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They must be hiding something valuable in there. Something that the world cherishes and craves. Gold and diamonds? No, baby birds.

You won’t find this pigeon on the streets of New York City. Meet the Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans)! This colorful bird can be found throughout Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests. It hangs out in small flocks in the treetops, foraging mainly for fruit. Distinguishing males from females isn’t too difficult: Females lack pink necks and are mostly olive-green in color!

What if… the Atlantic had its own Polynesian-style oceangoing culture? (Also: what if… King Tut actually did something to become famous, instead of just having a fancy tomb?)

Pharaoh Akhenaten famously turned Egypt on its head by introducing monotheistic religion, preaching the worship of only the sun, Aten. Once he was gone, the nation quickly returned to the old ways and dismissed his reign as vulgar and heretical. But in this alternate history scenario, Akhenaten’s son Tutankhamen led a group of loyalists on an exodus out of Egypt, sacrificing himself to protect them from Mycenaean pirates along the way.

Now, two thousand years later, the Atenists have spread across the ocean. Besides the primary inhabited islands shown in this map, they also have seasonal outposts on Bermuda, Saint Helena, Ascencion, and Tristan da Cunha. Trade is now possible between the Americas and Africa/Eurasia, with Byzantine jewelry being the latest fad among the Mayan aristocracy.

Atenists do not try to convert people they encounter, but wherever they go, they carve the symbol of Aten as a petroglyph, reminding the world of his omnipresence. They build obelisks as lighthouses, and monumental statues of Tut. Politics are centered on the Inku, a great gathering of all ship captains where even the newest commanders of the smallest ships have their vote matter as much as elders that command fleets.

To the Etruscan civilization of ancient Italy, the idea of a single king ruling them all was sacrilegious. They considered the borders between cities to be divinely ordained, and anyone who tried to extend their power across those lines would be committing heresy. The highest power they knew was the lauchume (Latinized as lucumo), a city-state’s ruler.

Every year, the lauchumes of the Etruscan cities would meet at their holiest site in the town of Velsu (also rendered Velznatch, identified with modern Orvieto). They brought produce, traders and craftsmen, and dancers and other entertainers to contribute to a grand festival for Velsu’s inhabitants. Besides discussing any political and economic concerns, the lauchumes would elect one of their own as their religious leader for the next year.

Śuri is the best example of how the Etruscan gods’ fluid identities continue to baffle modern experts. We know that he was highly revered, and given many offerings, and from his artistic depictions and inscriptions devoted to him, we know what his domains were: the sun and the underworld.

But his connections to the other Etruscan deities of those domains is unclear. He could have been an aspect of the sun god Usil/Aplu (Apollo) in his role as an underworld deity — in other words, the god of the sun when it passed through the land of the dead. On the other hand, Śuri could be the name of a powerful god of both the sun and underworld, who was split into Calu/Aita (Hades) and Usil/Aplu over time, or if the situation called for it. To complicate matters, he had other names, such as Manth and Vetis.

I saw that challenge going around where you draw Hatsune Miku in the style of different cultures. Here she is as an Etruscan, c. 600-400 BCE.

By this point in Etruscan history, ornate borders had replaced tartan as the preferred method of decorating clothes. Braids like this (seen here on Menrva (=Athena), the woman with the spear) were being eclipsed in popularity by looser, shorter Greek styles. Art depicting a woman wearing a cloak this way, with the "tails" in front, can be seen on a fresco in the Tomb of the Leopards, Tarchuna (modern Tarquinia). Her large, circular earrings and the chain across her chest are loosely based on this magnificent set in the Met Museum, with a large crystal added to evoke Miku's necktie.

A panoramic drawing I spent most of my free time in May on, to practice perspective, depth, drawing flora from reference, and some new brushes. This was a tough battle, but I am happy with the bright colors and how much comic-strip influence shows on the facial expressions.

Italy, 600 BCE. A placid day for the Etruscans is interrupted when a shepherd boy loses control of a large ram, who leads the flock in a stampede past the temple. The Etruscans only conducted animal sacrifices on sheep that didn’t resist when being led to the altar, so it’s safe to assume this one will be spared.

The man in the pointed hat is a haruspex (nethsvis in Etruscan), a priest who analyzed animal organs for signs from the gods. Here’s a bronze statuette of him from the Vatican Museum.

Next set of four Red Alert Tipping Point species:

Brown-capped Rosy-finch

Craveri's Murrelet

Hawaiian Petrel

Red-faced Cormorant

65/112 birds done!

Mourning Dove - 12x16" watercolor on Arches cold press

I love mourning doves. They are so wonderfully stupid and so soft and pretty.

Today's Tipping Point birds:

Guadalupe Murrelet

Townsend's Storm-petrel

LeConte's Thrasher

Bachman's Sparrow

I'm nearly done with the Red Alert list - only 7 more to go!

The final three Red Alert species and the first Orange Alert!

Band-rumped Storm-petrel

Fea's (Cape Verde) Petrel

Saltmarsh Sparrow

King Eider