The Final Day in a Year of Birds

I started drawing or painting a bird a day on November 13, 2020 … and so today marks the 365th bird. I didn’t start out to do this for a year, but around the 60th or 70th bird, it seemed like a good idea. I’ve turned to peacocks to mark landmarks in this journey before, so it seemed appropriate to choose a white peacock for this final day. The white peacock is rare but not an albino. Unlike in albinos, its eyes, beak and feet are pigmented. A genetic mutation called leucism causes the feathers, yellowish at birth, to turn pure white with age. In parts of India, they symbolize unconditional love, which seemed a good note on which to end this year of birds, which is perhaps more accurately deemed a year of falling in love with birds…

Condor

We almost lost the California condor, the largest bird in North America. By 1982, there were only 22 left in the entire world. A captive breeding program and then careful reintroduction to the wild have restored their population to over 400, a portion of which live in northern Arizona and southern Utah, and are often seen a few miles from my home near Lava Point and Angels Landing in Zion Naitonal Park. They are stunning in flight but a bit spooky when perched. Like their cousins, the turkey vulture,they feed on carrion, a great service in cleaning up road kill and other carnage. Both are in the family Cathartidae, which comes from the Greek word for “purifier.”

American White Pelican

After yesterday’s lazuli bunting, which could fit in the palm of your hand, the American white pelican is one of the largest flying birds in the world–second in North America only to the California Condor. An adult female can weigh up to 30 pounds, as compared to a bald eagle, which seldom tops 12 pounds (really, they are that lightweight.) Pelicans look so awkward, especially when they are walking, but they can soar!

Spotted Owl

Zion National Park was designated as critical habitat for the endangered Mexican Spotted Owl in 2004. Although they are usually found in forest habitat, they do well in the shadowed canyons where they blend into the rocks and have plenty of ledges and outcroppings to perch on as they watch for deer mice and voles and other rodents. This drawing was based on video taken by Zion Ranger Mark Ratchford in 2020.

A Wake-up Call

As I look at endangered and threatened birds in Utah, I realize I need to start with a bird that is now extinct, but once flew over Utah skies in unbelievable numbers, as it did across much of the States and around the world: the passenger pigeon. Estimates of their population in the early 19th century are as high as five billion, and dense flocks a mile wide and two miles long took hours to pass; in 1914, the last passenger pigeon in the world, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. Their sudden decline and ultimate extinction, witnessed in real time, was the start of a widespread concern with bird populations. This piece is based on a photograph of preserved specimens at the Field Museum of Natural HIstory in Chicago, photograph by Marc Schlossman. And the colors are inspired by Audobon’s portrait of the tragic birds.

Bendire’s Thrasher

As I enter my last couple weeks of “My Year of Birds,” I want to focus on endangered, threatened, and sensitive birds seen in Utah…. Tonight, a Bendire’s Thrasher, a secretive little desert bird who often hangs out on the ground, and whose survival is threatened by a changing climate and loss of habitat. This wee portrait inspired by a photograph by Amy Hunt, posted on Flickr.

Agami Heron

The Agami heron is found in rainforests from Panama down into Brazil. In Brazil, it is called the hummingbird heron because of its coloring. This is very different from how I usually work but I spent nearly eight hours in the Denver airport yesterday because of plane delays, and once I started playing with fine lines for the feathers, it was meditative and even a little addictictive…

Capped Heron

I am so grateful for the incredible wildlife videographers and generous teachers who post their love of birds on YouTube and other sites. Audubon shot his study specimens, and at least I can say that no birds were harmed in the making of my paintings (and the rooms I inhabit smell better than his did, if I am to believe reports). I learn so much along the way, including the fact that there are 64 species of herons around the world, including this delicately colored denizen of rainforests from Panama to northern Brazil.