Oregon Ridge Nature Center - Birding for Beginners - Sketching in the Field

Quick - does the Blue Jay have a eye-line?  Describe the bird without using the word blue.  Does it have any markings on its throat? 

Many times - we see a bird hundreds of times, but don't really SEE it.  That was one of the purposes for our workshop today at Oregon Ridge.  By sketching in the field, we tried to quickly identify features such as posture, shape, wing bars, eye rings/stripes, crowns and other aspects of birds.  Our goal was to focus our attention on the bird to see more details.

After trying to describe a Blue Jay without seeing the bird, we then proceeded to quickly sketch it from photos using notes from Mary Kokoski's drawing class from a few years ago:

Take a look - were you able to describe a Blue Jay correctly?  Photo by Dave Gigliotti.

As we headed outside, we came across a cooperative subject.

Doris - you were right - the wattle hangs from the neck/throat area.  The snood is what is hanging from the forehead.

Other birds seen and sketched today include: 
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch

Thanks everyone for the fun time today.  Here is the website I mentioned for more information on sketching:  http://www.johnmuirlaws.com/drawing-birds

And the class on sketching through CMBO:  http://www.njaudubon.org/SectionCapeMayBirdObservatory/SchoolofBirding/Workshops.aspx

Thank you Oregon Ridge Nature Center for the use of your fantastic library.
http://oregonridgenaturecenter.org/