A few days ago, a thrush struck the window. She lay on her side for fifteen minutes, and then brought herself to her feet. Little by little she turned to face the evening light. After an hour and a half of quiet containment, she disappeared into the night.
Great post. Wonderful when the birds recover and fly off. I've done colored pencil drawings of some who didn't. It's never a house sparrow or cowbird -- whose passing I wouldn't mourn -- but usually mourning doves, a couple grosbeaks, and once a cedar waxwing. Sad. Did Mr. Kooks get a look?
ReplyDeleteI knew a cat once who occasionally brought me a live hummingbird as "tribute." Once or twice my girlfriend at the time (it was actually her cat) would hold them in her hands for an hour or two and the poor little guys would come out of shock and fly away. Sometimes not. After this happened several times I scolded the cat, who loved me dearly. After that she killed them first.
ReplyDeleteI know she was paying me great honor, but I'd rather see hummers doing what they do, mostly drinking fuschia nectar and keeping other hummers away from their stash.
a passive wildlife subject- we must sieze the opportunity when it comes...
ReplyDeleteI tried to draw a chipmunk i caught in a trap this weekend...less that cooperative, needless to say.
Now that's a free model!
ReplyDeleteGreat story and a nice practice!!
I like how you just focus on the shapes in order to quickly sketch it.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Gurney... I'm sorry, this is totally unrelated, but I was seeing a re-run of Gilmore Girls earlier, and there was this hay maze in the town plaza. Kids had flags of different colors that reached above the top line of the maze. Somehow the colorful frame reminded me of Dinotopia. The picture I'm linking to isn't the best one, sadly, but it's all I could find http://www.3click.tv/mp4//Gilmore%20Girls/season7/metadata/319302.jpg
ReplyDeletePerhaps the maze idea might interest you for future works.
All the best!
To Jeff Jordan:
ReplyDeletePutting a collar with a bell on the cat might stop it from catching birds, or should at least make catches less frequent.
The thrush had a minor concussion, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteWe have these huge windows at the SW side of our house. It used to happen quite frequently that birds would kill themselves flying against our windows, something the kids always were shocked about.
ReplyDeleteSo after a couple of victims, we added these children's drawings in transparant adhesive material. You can find them in any store where they sell school materials for kids.
You're making a good point by drawing that poor bird. Anything can be a good subject. Especially when unexpected.
Birds, especially small birds (passerine), are such a beautiful subject to draw, so full of life... almost impossible to draw from life, however - I have to use photos, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteSome people here have mentioned birds quite unknown in Europe...