H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 847 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

Bird Art # 2

I continue to do my sketching using several media in order to get back in shape for hand and wrist movement, necessary movements when drawing.

I bring you some samples for today’s post:

“Female Northern Cardinal” Blue ink, bamboo reed pen, 6×8

“Northern Mockingbird” Graphite pencil, 6×8

“Male Brown-headed Cowbird” Black ink, bamboo reed pen, 6×8

All images are © H.J. Ruiz – Do not copy or download

Tags: Bird Art, Bird Art by H.J. Ruiz

The Red-winged Blackbirds are a species that stop by my backyard regularly. When they show up everything goes out of whack!. They make a mess with seeds because they love to scratch and select their favorite seeds, I feed the birds with mixes of several seeds so every bird get to eat what the usually eat.

Their size make them clumsy and somewhat rude to other birds and bully their way around. Being larger that the regular sparrows and other passerines birds they have the advantage for any confrontation, majority of birds avoid the fight and simply move aside. Once in a while I see that a Northern Mockingbird challenges the leader and chase him away. After some time things calm down and everybody share the feeders.

Click on images to see enlargements

Red-winged Blackbird (M) (J)

Red-winged Blackbird (F) (J)

Red-winged Blackbird (M) (J)

Red-winged Blackbird 2 (F) (J)

Red-winged Blackbird (M)

Text and photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101

Tags: birds, nature, photography, photos of birds, Red-Winged Blackbird

Red Summer

This post is about birds favorite of mine from my backyard. The Northern Cardinals. I estimate there are about 20 individuals that are nesting in the pine trees area at the creek in my backyard.

Of course they all come to forage at all times of the day and are constantly flying everywhere from plants to my deck or feeders. My backyard has a constant traffic of birds that come and go in all directions.

Most of the Northern cardinals unlike other birds, will stay local and will not migrate south for winter as I’ve observed they’ve done the four previous seasons. They are good looking birds and well liked by most people. They are my favorite subjects for photography!

Click on images to see enlargements

Tags: birds, nature, Northern Cardinal, photography, photos of birds

Mourning Dove

One specie of birds that have been visiting my backyard from day one have been the Mourning Doves. They are out there very early in the morning and very late in the evening, foraging for food. They are voracious eaters. Although they look very passive and fragile, however, that’s far from the truth, they can be very agressive and are tough as nails. It does not matter if the weather is very hot or cold, raining hard or snowing, windy or foggy. They will be out there looking for food at the feeders.

Click on images to see enlargements