Friday, May 15, 2009

Robin Hatchlings

Here’s the scene outside my back door as of a few minutes ago. There are four robin hatchlings. They all quiver together when they hear a noise. It’s a great effort for any of them to lift up their heads.

4 comments:

DThompson55 said...

That is the sweetest thing. Water color pencil?

S. Weasel said...

Robins in the UK are a totally different species from the US ones. They both have red breasts, and there the resemblance ends.

British robins (Erithacus rubecula melophilus) are tiny round birds, like chickadees. Hilariously aggressive. I always know where my cat is because the robin in our garden (name of Attila) follows her everywhere, perches on a branch above her head and scolds.

Robins often feature on Christmas card art, as they are around all Winter and look fabulous against snow.

Umm...just thought I'd share. Nice sketch :)

James Gurney said...

dt, yes, water soluble colored pencil. I just sketched them for less than a minute from observation, and then finished up indoors, so as not to bother them too much.

S. Weasel, yes, I gather that the American Robin is really a thrush. One theory about why they are so willing to live close to humans is that in the wild they got used to following large mammals, looking for worms stirred up by their hooves in the mud.

Making A Mark said...

Ahhhhh! Tweeeeet!