Blue Tit drawing

This one of a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) took me quite a bit longer than the last two due to the greater feather detail. Based on a photograph taken back in December, the bird briefly stopped, looked at me, then carried on foraging on what was a very wet and misty day. Its head feathers were wet and spikey looking. Click for a larger version.

More at: www.fssbirding.org.uk/sketches.htm

Shelduck drawing

Another sketch from last night: Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna).

Click for a larger image!

www.fssbirding.org.uk/sketches.htm

Little Egret drawing

Did another drawing for the Ayrshire Bird Report, this is a Little Egret (Egretta garzetta). It was an exceptional year for these birds in 2010 with at least seven individuals recorded in Ayrshire. Click for a larger version.



More: www.fssbirding.org.uk/sketches.htm

Sun on the Solway

Well the sun did appear for around ten minutes in a whole week spent in southern Scotland late last month! I've uploaded a species list for our Caerlaverock birding trip here:

www.fssbirding.org.uk/caerlaverock2011.htm

I didn't take many bird photographs at all with the SLR gear and most of these images were created with the Canon G12 compact.

Florida fieldwork trip report

I've uploaded a species list to my main website for all the birds seen on and around Summerland Key in Florida last month. While it was a work trip, the birds were ever-present and easy to see. The highlights were: Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great White Heron, Reddish Egret, Tricored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Bald Eagle, Royal Tern, Blue-gray Ganatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Florida Prairie Warber, Palm Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush.

www.fssbirding.org.uk/floridatrip2011.htm

Catching up with 2012

Well, I'd better start posting or it will be February before I know it...

White Ibis, Summerland Key

Before field work today I did some pre-breakfast birding around Summerland Key. First I checked the lagoon on East Shore Drive which held 7 Tricoloured Herons (very active feeders), 7 White Ibises, 18 Snowy Egrets, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, and singles of Belted Kingfisher, Great White Heron, Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Great White Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-billed Gull and American Kestrel. A pair of Ospreys were active at a roadside nest. In the surrounding scrub were Gray Catbird, Palm Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird and 12 Red-winged Blackbirds while a few Turkey Vultures circled overhead.

I then moved on to a small freshwater pond on Katherine Street which held 14 Blue-winged Teal, a pair of Wood Ducks, two pairs of American Coot, a Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Great Blue Heron, and a White Ibis. Wandering around the roadside, a group of 8 White Ibises were probing in the verge.

Later in the day, I saw two Northern Waterthrush while kayaking some small mangrove channels on Sugarloaf Key.

Green Iguanas in Florida's Mangroves

The most interesting reptile seen while kayaking in the mangroves this week was a Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake (Nerodia clarkii compressicauda). Andrew and Bernhard found it and mananged to photograph it. We've seen many Green Iguanas (Iguana iguana) too. This species is not native to Florida (Central & South America) and is classed as invasive. There are some real monsters around, several feet long, but are remarkably agile in the thin branches of the canopy. I've seen them in Peru but never this close - they don't seem too bothered at human approach here. This one below was one of 25 iguanas sunning themselves at dawn around a small freshwater pond on Summerland Key.

Florida Keys field work

I’m back in the Florida Keys on field work, kayaking and snorkelling for a marine polyclad called the tiger flatworm Maritigrella crozieri. It feeds on the ascidian tunicate or sea squirt, (Ecteinascidia turbinata) in the mangroves. Before the plane had even landed at Miami I saw a Loggerhead Shrike flying around some vegetation on the runway. Today I got great looks at Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Brown Pelican, Royal Tern, White-crowned Pigeon, White Ibis, Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Great White Heron. Unfortunately water and cameras don't mix (unless you have under-water housing) but here is photo from last time.

Sketching & stretching

Did another quick sketch last night for the forthcoming Ayrshire Bird Report - a drake Common Eider (Somateria mollissima).

Crane of the swamp

A few months ago in London's China Town, I saw this sake (a type of rice wine) in a small market. I really bought it becauses of the attractive packaging which depicts the Japanese or Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis). The brand name Sawanotsuru translates as 'crane of the swamp' from Japanese mythology. I made these images in my home-made studio white box.

Leaf Fall on the Light Box II

Feeding Coot blurs with head-bobbing trails

These images were created in-camera using a long shutter speed and wide-angle lens to capture the head-bobbing trails of Eurasian Coots (Fulica atra) as they fed on a city lake.





Previous blog on this technique here.