Hairy Woodpecker

Probably the most wide ranging year around resident Woodpecker, the Hairy Woodpecker is seen in fields, forests and at feeders throughout most of North America. Very similar to the slightly smaller Downy Woodpecker, they can be found foraging the same tree and are often seen together but Hairys prefer more woodland environment so are less likely to be found in newer subdivisions where mature trees are lacking. 

Image Size is 4" x 4"  mixed media on arches watercolor paper.  $75 

For check payment or other payment arrangements email

birdartist@mindspring.com

Williamson's Sapsucker, female

The next portrait in the woodpecker series is the Williamson's Sapsucker. I decided to portray the female because this is the only North American woodpecker that has total dimorphism between male and female.


It breeds in middle to higher elevation conifer forests and moves down a bit during winter. Uncommon and localized throughout the Western mountains. The male is is very striking , shiny and uniformly black above, it has a head creased by two white stripes and a bold white wing patch. The prominent white rump is visible only in flight. Underparts are black on the chest, yellow on the belly. If you see the male you will be impressed. The female however has a more subtle beauty and since there is such a difference, I chose to depict the female.

Image Size is 4" x 4"  mixed media on arches watercolor paper.  $75

For check payment or other payment arrangements email

birdartist@mindspring.com

Downy Woodpecker

This next portrait is the smallest North American woodpecker. They are permanent residents in most of North America except for the north tundra and the Southwest Desert. They are found in a wide variety of habitat from forests to back yards but they prefer deciduous trees. They are a common visitor to back yard suet feeders.

Image Size is 4" x 4"  mixed media on arches watercolor paper.  $75

For check payment or other payment arrangements email

birdartist@mindspring.com

Pileated Woodpecker

I am starting a new series of small head portraits of Woodpeckers. I am starting with the 11 species that live in my county of Deschutes in central Oregon. I may extend it to include all of the 22 North American species at some point.

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America and ranges over the eastern half of the United States, most of central and southern Canada, and parts of Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Northern California. In Oregon it is confined to the mountains of northeastern Oregon and the Cascade range and west to the coast. They are not common in Oregon but can be seen fairly often if you are diligent. They usually have large territories so that makes them a bit challenging to track down. They prefer old growth conifers, cypress swamps, bottom lands and mature hardwood forests. They don't drill holes as such but rather excavates cavities pounding into the trunks of dead and decaying trees, and live ones, creating rectangular or oblong shaped cavities in search of insects. Often seen working dead or fallen trees on or near the ground. They have a fairly loud and raucous call similar to the Northern Flicker so they are hard to miss if they are vocalizing. They tend to be rather secretive nesters so it is sometimes hard to find their nest.

Here in Deschutes County you can find them in the forests west of Sisters as well as the forest trails along the Century Drive. Magnificent woodpecker to behold.

Image Size is 4" x 4"  mixed media on arches watercolor paper.  $95

For check payment or other payment arrangements email

birdartist@mindspring.com

Sunbury Shores Art and Nature Center Fund Raiser

For the second year, Sunbury Shores Art and Nature Centre, in St Andrews, NB, CA held a secret raffle as a fund raiser event for the Center. Artists and Celebrities are asked to donate a piece of art measuring six inches by eight inches. They hold the event on the first Saturday of October and provide music and refreshments for the folks as they browse the paintings prior to the raffle. You pay ten dollars to get in and this gives you one ticket in the drawing. Additional tickets can be purchased. No art is signed so it is a mystery as to who did what. As your number is drawn, you may chose a painting from the remaining ones on the display. If you chose a painting, an additional $90 is required to obtain it. Famous Canadian artists such as Robert Bateman and other public figures such as humorist, Dave Barry, donated pieces that are worth considerably more than $100 due to their notoriety as artists or public figures. You just have to guess who did what and take a chance.  Lots of fun. 

The above piece was my contribution for this year.

Here are the rest of the paintings:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150305424027371.331047.26385292370&type=3

Zonotricia Sparrows

So I combined the Rufus-collared with the rest to form an illustration of all five Zonotrichia.  Now it's on to the next project which is the Black-backed Woodpecker. 

6 x 13 inches, Mixed media on paper,  $175

For check payment or other payment arrangements email

birdartist@mindspring.com

My favorite Sparrow.

I went birding with my friend Howard Horvath and several other friends on Wednesday, an outing  we do about every week.  Howard, who has birded all over the world, mentioned that I had forgotten the only other Zonotrichia sparrow, the Rufus-collared Sparrow.  So I did some research and may have discovered my favorite sparrow!  I find this little guy to be a stunning bird.  I would love to hear him sing because typically Zonotrichia sparrows have wonderful songs.  The range of this bird is southern Mexico all the way to the tip of South America, Terra del Fuego.   This is mostly neo-tropical habitat so Howard speculates that the reason we don’t see an occasional vagrant here in North America may be the separation of a fairly large arid desert between the tropics and this continent.  So of course I had to add the final bird to the Zonotrichia illustration that I started on Monday. 

My first painting of the new year...

is a portrait of four of my favorite sparrows.  Birders are like every other collector, we like to collect rare additions to our collection which in our case is a bird sighting.  One of the subsets of rare sightings is to see all of a certain genus that range in North America.  To see them in one day is sometimes referred to as a Grand Slam.

In the Sparrow family, there is a genus Zonotrichia that has four representatives in North America, Harris's, Golden-crowned, White-crowned, and White-throated, (as depicted).  They all winter in Oregon, White-crowned and Golden-crowned in good numbers and White-throated and Harris’s in very small numbers, usually making their sightings worthy of note.  In Central Oregon, we only see one or two Harris’s in a winter, sometimes none. White-throated show up a little more often maybe a half dozen sightings in a winter.  White-throated are more common in winter on the west side of the Cascade Mountains.  These sparrows are some of the larger sparrows and in my opinion, some of the more hansom. 

Recently we have had all four Zonotrichia in Deschutes County so the Zonotrichia Grand Slam has been doable.  I have not yet seen them all in the same day, however,  this nevertheless set me to painting a representation of all four in breeding plumage.