From the sketchbook... (1 Viewer)

[buzzard12]

keep 'em crossed: time for a yank

I feel a Hermit Thrush would suit your style nicely..

Woo Hoo!

Found today, plenty of sketches, but not photographed as yet..

Cracking bird! Also 2 Wryneck, 2 Barred Warbler, Rose coloured Starling and a Northern Willow Warbler on the island!

 

[ed keeble]

Woo Hoo!

Found today, plenty of sketches, but not photographed as yet..

Cracking bird! Also 2 Wryneck, 2 Barred Warbler, Rose coloured Starling and a Northern Willow Warbler on the island!

brilliant fizzog on that- as chiselled and featureful as a nuthatch

looking forward to seeing a bireo vireo

 

[Woody]

I'm keeping an eye on the blog, vireo's a corker!

Mike

 

[JTMB]

Very nice group of sketches! Did the hurricane bring any of the desired birds?

 

[Rahul Parekh]

Excellent work Alan . Loved your sketch book. How one can sketch such fine detailed sketch in the wild? Bravo!!

All best wishes,

Cheers, Rahul

 

[buzzard12]

Back from Ireland yesterday, two weeks birding on Cape Clear being a highlight. I had two unforgetable weeks birding there, the quality of birding was astounding throughout, with at least one rarirty found almost daily. Blyth's Reed Warbler and a stunning Red Eyed Vireo topped the rare charts.
Her's a few quick sketches of the Vireo. Incredibly this was Cape Clear's 19th record of the species. Bearing in mind the island is just 4kmX1.5km, you get some idea of this sites capacitity for attracting transatlantic passerines...

 

[buzzard12]

The island also pulls birds from the east. A Blyth's Reed Warbler from Oct 2nd-5th meant that I had a close eye on unstreaked Acro warblers, several Reed Warblers were seen in the efirst week and I spent some time on them. All Reed Warblers here in the first three sketches. Also there was a cracking Willow Warbler which I suspect was a Northern Willow...my first hastily scribbled notes here. All sketches done with black biro..

 

[buzzard12]

There were two Short Toed Larks on the island for a couple of days! The bird at the lake was incredibly cofiding as it fed on the road and allowed views down to a few metres, a wonderful subject and memorable bird. A Wryneck was present at The Waist from the 3rd Oct onwards and often sat out in the sun. It was still present when I left on 15th Oct, whilst another was present on the Mass Trck and a third at the fish farm...
Red backed Shrike found on the last morning by the Waterboys. An incredible fall on both of the last two mornings. The morning of the 15th October alone Saw 4 Yellow Browed Warbler, 1 Red Backed Shrike, 2 Red Breasted Flycatchers, 3 Rose Coloured Starling, 1 Ring Ouzel, 50 Blackcap and 6 Brambling fresh in off the sea...
All of this amid the most stunning scenery possible, it's like birding on a postcard! For anyone interest in daily accounts and photos you can get them at my blog, link below...

And now to try catch up on a month's posts here in the art forums...

 

[buzzard12]

Right - these and the wryneck pic from FB have made my mind up. Let's get organised for 2013 and meet up on Cape Clear - Serious! I'm dead up for it.
Brilliant work again Al - just the best, pal.

That can very easily be arranged Tim, for anyone interested..

 

[colleenc]

alan what a treat to see these, I especially like how simply you capture it all, but remain true to the shapes you are seeing...

 

[timwootton]

That can very easily be arranged Tim, for anyone interested..

Excellent. Watch this space.
Oh - the drawings are ok, too :-O
Seriously - I'll have to come back later - just drop this marker down for now; as good as you've ever been and that's sooooo very good. Highest quality mate - kudos!

 

[TorbenBack]

Welcome back to Scandinavia after what seems to have been a successful birding & sketching trip. Lots of fantastic sketches :t: and hard to pick a favorite, but if so I really like the one of the short toed lark (352840).
Not long ago we had one here.

Cheers,
Torben

 

[solitaryVSong]

.. as good as you've ever been and that's sooooo very good. Highest quality mate - kudos!

Wonderful drawings. I think the third Red-eyed Vireo sees them the way I do, long and sleek. But here I'm almost always looking straight up at them. This accentuates their sleekness I think.

I have held off saying anything about the REV photo. Why? Because I've never seen one with that rusty cast on cheek. Everything else looked like REV. But since then I see that some guide books show a bit of an orange cast. I haven't ever paid that much attention to it but my recollection is that most often it's gray or olive. I will be looking more closely next time though! It's amazing what you can learn when a neighborhood bird shows up a continent away!

 

[halftwo]

Lovely sketches.

 

[phil baber]

So wonderful Mr. Dalton! Brilliance!

Glad you had a good time in the Auld Country!

 

[Rahul Parekh]

beautiful sketching & accurate observation

 

[phil baber]

Bump!

 

[JTMB]

Great group of drawings, that last batch is...!

 

[Woody]

You had a greta time didn't you! Amazingly productive and gorgeous fieldwork. When does all this raw material get developed?

Mike

 

[RussB]

Great work, Alan!
There can never be too many examples of first rate fieldwork such as this. A very high level of drawing demonstrated here with all the nuances captured down to a T. My favourite is the short-toed lark, a species which is most difficult to sketch in the field I would imagine.
Excellent stuff.

Russ