The Sharp-shinned Hawk or “sharpie” as it is affectionately called is a high-speed stealth predator whose prey is song birds. This one was seen in our backyard. I took this picture through a glass door.
House Finches in a Storm
House Finches in a Storm 8” x 8” acrylic on panel
This little painting is a response to the current crisis - we feel like two small birds tossed about in a storm of changing news.
Black Pheobe
A very common phoebe on the West Coast of California. It is here all year long unlike it’s close relative Say’s Phoebe which is uncommon in the same area during the summer. The Black Pheobe finds a perch which it uses to watch for insects. When an insect is spotted it does a short flight from the perch, snatches the bug and often returns to the same perch. They often make an incessant series of shrill chipping sounds.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
A subtle beauty that inhabits brush lands and forests of the southern half of the United States. When members of this species are vocal their distinctive sounds give them away. Otherwise they are stealth birds that are hard to spot under the best of conditions and when in thick brush, impossible to find. When they are nest building they can sometimes be seen collecting spider webs which they use to bind lichens together to form a small cup for a nest.
They whip their tails back and forth and splay them wide to scare bugs which are then eaten.
The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher photographed at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, Santa Clara County, California. The dark "V" on the forehead indicates this is a male.
Kestrel Painting
Kestrel 8” x 8” acrylic
This is the painting I developed from the sketch I made last January during our birding trip to the California central valley. I enjoyed working with all the oranges and adding a suggestion of a distant background..
Long-eared Owls
This painting began with a sketch made at Mercy Hot Springs, California, last January. Dave also took a few photos of these guys in their defensive camouflage pose. I’ve been having fun working out compositions on narrow canvases and these owls fit in nicely.
California Scrub-Jay
Sometimes I forget that some of our local birds are pretty interesting especially if you have not seen them before. Once we were hiking and ran into a fellow who was excited seeing a wonderful blue-colored bird. In his case it was Steller’s Jay which is a very common species in the higher wooded areas of my county. It’s tempting to say so what, but I didn’t because I too go to places and see common local birds for the first time and am both awed and excited.
The California Scrub-Jay is a noisy and curious jay that frequents open scrub lands, back yards, parks and wherever else there is a chance of finding food. It is fairly common and seeing four or five on a short hike is not uncommon.
Speckled Tanager
I know that I have already placed a photograph of this species on the blog, but I ran across this one by accident and it’s too pretty to not post. The colors of this species is hard to fathom with its intense greens, blues and yellows.
This one was seen in Southern Costa Rica near its border with Panama.
Stripe-headed Sparrow
Macaw and Parakeet Sketches
This Military Macaw was a rescue bird used to people. He visited our porch in Rancho Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico and chewed up the furniture.
We had a quick look at these Orange-fronted Parakeets - I liked that they were feeding among purple flowers.
Groove-billed Ani
My nemesis bird. It is so common in parts of the world, but I spent 2 years looking for it in the U.S. where it is fairly common in the Southern States.
Photo taken at the Vallarta Gardens near Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Tufted Flycatcher
This small flycatcher was commonly seen during our eleven day visit in San Sebastián del Oeste and in the El Tuito area. This one was fairly cooperative and did not seem to mind me getting close for photos.
Slate-throated Redstart
This bird was pretty comfortable with us getting close. It was an active bug eater, fanning its tail to get bugs to jump or doing a "flycatcher" flight from a perch to snatch a bug and then fly back. It was constantly on the move in a green brushy area probably at around 6000' elevation on the road to La Bufa near San Sebastian del Oeste.
This species ranges from the Southwest US (rarely) down into Northern South America.
Hooded Orioles
Hooded Oriole Sketch
Our Hooded Orioles winter in Western Mexico. We saw these in a field with Vermillion Flycatchers and I loved all the red-oranges.
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
Black-throated Magpie-Jay sketch
Groups of Black-throated Magpie-Jays were spectacular. We saw several groups on the Rancho Primavera near El Tuito, Mexico.
Squirrel Cuckoo
Of the larger birds we encountered on our trip to Jalisco, Mexico, the Squirrel Cuckoo had to be on of the hardest to photograph and I never did get a good ventral photo of this species. They don’t like sitting in one place especially when someone is starring at them and pointing a camera lens their way. This individual was unusual because it stayed still for more than a couple of seconds.
Streak-backed Oriole Sketch
While Dave was photographing I made a quick sketch. I liked the orioles half hidden by the purple flowers.
Streak-backed Oriole
Another view of this species showing some detail of back feather detail.
Streak-backed Oriole
Floy and I have recently returned from an eleven day trip to Western Mexico. We started in the quaint old mining down of San Sebastián del Oeste which is about an hour and a half drive from Puerto Vallara. The town was founded in 1605 and it has the appearance of a Spanish colonial village. The second half of our trip was in the El Tuito area which is about an hour and a half south of Puerto Vallarta. We stayed at a nature preserve called Rancho Primavera, a beautiful semi-isolated place about a ten minute drive west of El Tuito.
The next several blog entries will be from both of us more or less documenting this trip. We will take care to add the category “Mexico 2020” so that you can search for them and view them as a group.
I thought I would start the series by posting a photo of the Streak-backed Oriole, a beautiful bird that was very common around the El Tuito area.
Enjoy!
Red-tailed Hawk Painting
‘Red-tailed Hawk’ 20” x 10” acrylic on wood panel
I like to imagine these majestic hawks surveying the golden hills.