Sketching at the end of the world

I just arrived from Ushuaia  Argentina , the southernmost city in the world.
a long journey from Colombia, but worth it.
This is an Imperial cormorant Leucocarbo atriceps  we saw in the middle of the Beagle Channel.

Point Lobos: Cormorant Carcas, Black Oyster Catcher and Southern Sea Otters

November 2011: Point Lobos, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Our visit started with a blast: a couple of southern sea otters (enhydra lutris nereis) were soaking by the rocky shore in whaler cove. One of them looked very content and calm. Another (a little smaller) was incredibly playful and moving extremely fast: washing his face, scrubbing his back, checking out armpits, splashing water onto paws and chest, wiggling his tail, swimming around and jumping over his calm buddy. I think it was mother and son - based on my personal experience :)

Nearby a very bright-beaked oyster catcher was working on a clam: sliding it between rocks, then hitting it hard and eating his prize piece-by-piece.

I am partial to cormorants since I saw one under water. We saw many that day - but this one was, sadly, dead and dry.

Hallo everybody! let me shortly introduce myself...

I was born in the last century in the countryside near the Fuchecchio's wetland (when pterodactyles were flying over the marches:-) and for the first eleven years I lived on the small hill of Montevettolini, nearby...
I learn from my father the rudiments of drawing, just been there and watching its job, breathing oil and turpentine...then I leaved for a new area and new interests....
But Nature remains in my...soul, fixed for ever...and so I am here with my sketch and photos, paintings, birdwatching and bird ringing and interest in conservation...will that be too much for me?....
Ciao
Sandro (Alessandro Sacchetti)

Sometimes I have not enough time to draw directly in nature and I take photographs and then I do it at home...
Thank you to accept me in this blog, sketch in nature will be my ambition for the future!


Here some cormorants at Orbetello lagoons, taken long time ago......and this is a cormorant released from the Lipu recovery center in Capraia Island..

Airport sketches -Concetta Flore

Under the airstrips of Fiumicino, Rome's airport, there is a small artificial lake that was once used for fishing, and is now unattended. To reach it we walked the beach, that is unbearably dirty,
and passed the barbed wire fences. The waters on the lake are clear, and the birds have learnt to live with the airplanes that take off over their heads with a terrifying roar. All around are the traces of rabbits.
Because of the reeds I had to sketch standing up, looking through the telescope. A tad uncomfortable. Anyway, I am rather satisfied with the outcome, especially with the cormorant, that graciously posed for me immobile.

Little grebes and coots

Cormorant in nuptial livery