Mockingbirds in the pomegranate

(Mockingbirds in pomegranate)! Been a long time since I’ve posted in here. The pomegranates are once again ripe, and the mockingbirds are bickering over who has dibs.

House Sparrows

It’s been ages since I drew a bird from life. Start back with what’s there: multiple families of house sparrows in the trickle from the hose and in the elderberry bush.

Birds in the Oleander

! I’ve been working since July in a temporary building between the Domes and the student farm, both of which are unkempt paradises for birds. There’s an oleander right outside my south-facing window. I’ve been getting some birds perching in the shrub and looking in at me, as well as a Western fence lizard, which uses the insect screen as a super-highway.

The orange-crowned warblers are here in numbers just now and the sparrows are all coming in and singing, as they will all winter.

We are moving to a new building in a couple of weeks. It’s by the freeway, it’s in an industrial park and, well, it’s not unkempt. There will be fewer birds. But I’m taking my sketchbook along anyway…

Sketching at the Raptor Center

I led a small group at the Raptor Center this morning for Audubon. It was a beautiful morning and the miserable wind had died down.

split up and walked quietly around the center. I drew the great horned owl and as I was walking back to where the Harris’s hawk is a burrowing owl perched very close, looking up and all around.

As we were about to leave a turkey vulture landed on a snag between the Raptor Center and the creek. One of the volunteers said it was probably a bird they had recently released. We all sketched it for quite a while until it took off, joining a couple of soaring vultures.

Say's Phoebe

A short trip to Southern California… We found nesting Say’s Phoebes at the Jawbone Canyon visitor center.

Western Kingbirds

The Western kingbirds have been in since before I got back to Davis. This evening I saw two pairs emerging from the trees on display flights and returning. They don’t seem to have been too bothered by the elm that blew down last night, taking the power lines with it, but I’m guessing a magpie nest or two has been destroyed… :(

Green Heron Fishing

This heron was working in and out of the ricrack along the arboretum waterway. It caught several fish during my 15-minute sit…

White-crowned Sparrows

They’ll be gone soon.

Western Gull

During yesterday’s sketchcrawl in San Francisco. This 2nd-year Western Gull was sitting outside the Ferry Building.

Scrub-jay Preening After Bath

Also at the Arboretum yesterday. This bird was very active preening, shaking, enjoying the sunlight.