Onyx

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

the broken-wing display is one of my favorite examples of innate behaviors!! many bird families have evolved this trait independently, but killdeers are so iconic for it

(jackalope) not yours to bear

stalemate

hopefully will be able to get back to birds by summerr

A bit different but while I’ve been too busy for art I thought I might share some other work! I’ve been training in specimen taxidermy for a little while now and am working toward more independence — this is my first bird completed entirely solo :D (also threw in some old sketches for good measure)

This American Kestrel was salvaged from a local airport after being struck by a plane. Unfortunately airports provide nice open spaces with high visibility, and this particular runway is bordered by some great fields. Raptors love to hunt in these areas, and this guy was no exception! He was doing extremely well, great body condition and a belly full of grasshoppers—he even had a grasshopper in his beak, fresh from the hunt. Looking at the ossification of his skull and month of death he was likely about 8 months old. He also had some fun asymmetry going on with his R6 rectrices.

Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)

pretty little guys!! also very amused by the older drawing (below cut) and the singular crumb I opted to give him for no particular reason