Bird Feeder Sketching

I'm so excited!  Our feeders are once again in place and the birds have found them. We are coming up on our second winter in this house.  I didn't want one more to go by without the joy of watching birds right outside of our window.

I've designated a Stillman and Birn Gamma Series Journal to record feeder notes and sketches.  I'm in heaven :)  Every spare moment I have on the weekends is spent at the kitchen table, looking out the window observing bird antics and sketching.  Sketching supplies include a pencil, Micron pen, waterbrush, watercolor pencils, a Sibley bird guide and binoculars. 

To read my notes, please click image to enlarge - this will work for all of them.

 So much nature happening at my window.  All I have to do is sit back and watch :)

Our neighborhood has a flock of turkeys.  Actually, the flock consists of a hen and 17 poults.  They visited the back yard off and on over the summer.  The poults are as big as the hen now and they, too, have discovered the feeders. They can certainly make a mess out of the mulch. 

Today, I was able to sketch while standing right at the window.  This requires patience as the birds are always moving.  Up to this point in my life I haven't had many dealings with wild turkeys, especially this close.  As I sketched, I noticed that they have a protrusion on their head between the eyes.  What's that called?  What is loose skin on their neck called?  Why do some have more feathers (very short but there) on their heads and necks?  I so love questions raised by looking close at a subject when sketching.  Off I went to my collection of bird books.  Please click on my journal pages to get the answers :)

I do have one correction to make.  The book I looked at said the loose skin on their necks is called a dewlap.  Friends in the know have told me it's more often called a wattle. 

I urge you to get your sketch books out and sit close to a feeder.  You'll come away quite refreshed and peaceful.  Great food for the soul.  And, remember.... this is your journal.  This is where you practice observation and trying to recreate what you see.  Accurate sketches may not happen right away, but over time you will see your progress.  One of my goals is to practice the camera technique.  That's when you view a bird pose, close your eyes and don't open them up until you turn your head to face your sketch book.  Then sketch what you saw from memory.  I'm having a bit of trouble with this.  Most of my trouble comes from not trusting myself.  The tufted titmouse on the first image is sketched using this technique.  'Oh well!'  Next time I might remember more :)

Kite's foot detail - Maree

“The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak
And stared with his foot on the prey.”
- Lord Alfred Tennyson



Kites are raptors with long wings and weak legs which spend a great deal of time sitting on overhead wires and hovering when they have spotted prey. They have featherless feet, but they also developed a range of other impressive adaptations that help them hunt most anything in their environment. Each foot has four powerful toes with sharp talons. Tiny projections on the bottom of their feet called “spicules” help kites grasp their prey.

The Black-shouldered Kite occurs in India, South-East Asia, south-western Europe and across sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Mauritania to Eritrea south to southern Africa. Here it is very common across the region but especially in South Africa, north-eastern Zimbabwe and central Botswana, occurring in most habitats but generally preferring grassland, transformed fynbos and cultivated land. It is largely absent from closed woodland, forest and desert.

A Staedtler HB pencil sketch detail of the Black-shouldered Kite's foot in my Moleskine large sketch-book 8" x 5"

Sketching tame wildlife

I'm learning how to sketch wildlife and have discovered that it's much easier to work on my speed sketching skills in places where the wild things aren't so wild. One of my favorite of these places is on Lake Ralphine at Howarth Park, a city park in Santa Rosa, California. There are year-round Canada geese, several varieties of domestic geese, mallards and California ground squirrels. The ground squirrels are extremely brazen. I've seen them go right up to people and beg for peanuts, jumping up on the bench if the person gets distracted and forgets to keep the supply coming. Since I travel with a dog, the squirrels keep their distance from me, yet still come close enough for me to sketch. This one seemed as interested in what I was doing as I was in what she was doing. Which wasn't so much. She stood on the rock and we watched each other for a while and then she was just gone.

I've been working in pen but wanted to try pencil to see if I could get more tone more quickly and, boy, did I! Now I'm having loads of fun with pencil sketching. It's kind of messy and I'd forgotten how much fun that can be. But mostly I'm just thrilled with how much more quickly I can get everything down on paper!

Sketching in Greenfield - Carolyn Pappas

Last Sunday I found myself in Greenfield, MA (which is in the northwestern part of the state near VT and NH) with some extra time to spare. I parked my car at Harper's Package Store (i.e., liquor store), put on some music (The Best of the Chieftains) and did some sketching. Behind the big tree on the left you can see a stonewall (they are all over the place around here) and a mountain in the background. The towns around Hampshire and Franklin counties are called "the northern hill towns" and they are some of the most beautiful parts of the state.

However, I think next time I do this I'm going to have to draw the store itself because it had sooo much going on. It would make a great sketch.

Take a Bow - Laura Gillis

A few months ago I sketched a tree that looked like two trees dancing.... today, in the same park, I found a tree that looked like it was taking a bow after a brilliant performance of some sort. If I remember right, this is a red bud tree and the spring blooms really are quite a performance! I will have to go back with some watercolors in the spring.....

Pencil sketch in generic sketchbook.

3-Minute Exercise - Maree Clarkson

"Is mastering the art of self-creation as important to you as learning another language?"
~ Steve Chandler


"Sunflower" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine large sketch-book

A simple, 3-minute exercise. The Moleskine sketch-book is beautiful to sketch in, both for pencil and ink work, but doesn't take watercolour very well. However, I did manage to get
in a few quick strokes of colour for this short exercise.

National Poinsettia Day - Maree

"I express myself
in sketching and
painting since
I am not a poet."


"Poinsettia" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

As I walked past the Poinsettia a while ago, I decided it was a perfect model to use for my daily exercise - a quick inspiration and nothing too complicated - and seeing as today is National Poinsettia Day, I decided to post it.

Pot plants make great subjects for sketching and painting and the same subject can be done from various angles, giving a completely different perspective of the play of light and shadow. This Poinsettia was just starting to flower and when it does, it will change from a caterpillar to a butterfly with the addition of its bright red flowers.

Sweet Gum - Laura Gillis

Hello all! It has been a while since I have posted anything here but I finally got something done that qualifies to be here! My latest project has been to do a daily sketch of my dogs or cat and post on my blog (yellowcatart.blogspot.com) but I gave them a break last night and sketched this leaf instead. I want to do this in color soon too.... it has the most beautiful green and maroon colors.... I just love fall. There are some years we go straight from summer to winter with only a few fall days in between but this year we have been lucky to have a longer fall and the leaves have been so pretty.

Pencil in generic sketchbook.

Giraffes at the San Fransisco Zoo: Judy Butler

I have been reminiscing about my trip to San Francisco in 2005. After working hard presenting at an educational conference it was time to play. I set out for an adventure by myself on a beautiful California Saturday morning to explore the “Nature Trail” in San Francisco. After taking the ferry across the bay from Alameda, I boarded a trolley then transferred to a bus. Finally an hour later I arrived at the Pacific Ocean. The trip with all these forms of transportation let me see a lot of the city with the iconic up hill and down. Along with beautiful vistas of city views the trip was lined with row houses of every imaginable color, people in wetsuits with surfboards tucked under their arms and other unexpected & unusual sites you might find in this unique city.

Once at the ocean the Sea Gulls were everywhere, really big Sea Gulls, the size of small dogs. I bought lunch at a deli inside the grocery store across from the beach. The Sea Gulls patrolled the grocery store parking lot, sat on light poles, and blanketed the beach. I sat ate my sandwich on the beach frequently protecting my morsels from the marauding birds. While enjoying the spectacular waves crashing on the beach and surrounding rocks and watching the surfers, I took bunches of photos and sketched the gulls.

It was difficult to tear myself away from the beach but I jumped on yet another bus and traveled down the highway to the Zoological Park. The Zoo is a lovely place, small compared to many zoos I have visited. Most exhibits are large enough for the animals to move around freely in quasi-natural settings. Of course lots of amazing west cost plants and blooming foliage. As I moved around the park I found comfortable spots to draw. My experience is that when you sketch in public you attract attention from children who always want to see what you are doing. That is a fun part of drawing in public. Young children always think your stuff is good even if it is not.

Zoos are a wonderful place to sketch. They usually have common and local animals along with exotic animals we might never have a chance to see. I spent a lot of time with the giraffes that were in a savanna-type setting with lots of other grazing animals.

I realized how obsessed I am with giraffes when looking back through my photos and journal entries during my trip to the San Francisco Zoo and trips to other zoos. See my giraffe post on June 12, 2008, “Giraffes: What is it about those long necks?” In that post I feature photos by friends from all over the world that are worth giving a look.

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Dead Duckling - Maree Clarkson

Death--- the last sleep? No the final awakening.
---Walter Scott


"Carolina Duckling" pencil sketch in Daily Nature Journal

This little Carolina duckling (Wood Duck) was very weak when it hatched and it also had a cripple leg. Despite all my efforts, it didn't survive and died 3 days later. This is from a sketch I did in an old Nature Journal and during the time when I was still breeding with these wonderful little ducks.