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| Red-Breasted Nuthatches: Bird Studies in Watercolour |
Red-breasted nuthatches are so special at my home as we don't commonly see them. They like coniferous forest but unless we are feeding them, they tend to be flitting high in the trees.
I have never seen them in a grouping such as this but after I painted the one, I thought I would try and paint one in another orientation. Well they looked a little silly so I decided to go for it and created a background including a third nuthatch to complete an L composition.
I am committed this winter to painting more varieties of birds so this will involve more studies. Next time I will think of the composition before I start as well as the bird's nature and habitat. Check here for more information about the red-breasted nuthatch. allaboutbirds.org One fact mentioned on that site, is that the nuthatches place resin outside and inside the tree hole entrance into their nests, perhaps as a deterrent to predators. The mom and dad nuthatches enter by diving into the nest. I think I have seen this bird a little disheveled with a few feathers stuck together!
Check back because I am not only painting nuthatches, I am carving one in basswood. Be patient because that is going to take me a little more time.
6 comments:
Oh Eileen, these are sweet. I've never seen a nest but I do feed the birds from my hand on my trail walks in the winter. You can hear them coming as they make such a cute little squeek.
Have you done carving before? It has always interested me. My brother used to do some.
Holly, I am just learning carving but I have an expert teacher. I am hoping it will help also in capturing the rounded shape when painting.
These wee birdies are delightful - I look forward to seeing your finished carving too!
Beautiful painting! Yes, they are a wonderful bird and make a pretty little "yank, yank" call. Also, they are more likely to feed by going down the tree trunk head first. Here is a map of sightings of them on eBird. http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/map/rebnut?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2013
Dianne, Thanks. I appreciate you including some information about the nuthatch. I will enjoy looking this up.
These studies are wonderful Eileen. I have seen them go down the tree headfirst, quite fun to watch.
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