Gannets miniature painting - work in progress© Tracy Hall 2009
Orkney has played host to flocks of Crossbills recently and I enjoyed a magical moment amongst the trees at Kirbister surrounded by these beautiful birds. The males look almost parrot like with their distinctive large bills and bright plumage, and I'm reliably informed that they were searching for aphids in the leaves. They seem remarkably at ease with onlookers. I have been trying to add a little video (just to see if I could!) and after several failed attempts using IE, switched to Firefox and it finally worked :)
Watching Gannets diving is a spectacular sight; they fold back their wings and plummet at speeds of around 90mph, hitting the water like a bullet. It seems astounding that they manage to come back up again, but they have a skull like a crash helmet. I haven't had much luck getting decent pictures of them, diving or otherwise (apart from the occasional dead bird washed up on the beach) but really wanted to have the chance to paint them again so it was great to get the opportunity to use some of Brian Hewitt's photos for my latest miniature. Brian got some amazing shots of them diving too. The painting is 2" x 3.5" watercolour on board and shown above in progress. Lots still to do. One day I hope to get to Bass Rock where you can take a boat trip to visit the gannetry.
Orkney has played host to flocks of Crossbills recently and I enjoyed a magical moment amongst the trees at Kirbister surrounded by these beautiful birds. The males look almost parrot like with their distinctive large bills and bright plumage, and I'm reliably informed that they were searching for aphids in the leaves. They seem remarkably at ease with onlookers. I have been trying to add a little video (just to see if I could!) and after several failed attempts using IE, switched to Firefox and it finally worked :)
2 comments:
I don't know either of these birds. Thanks for sharing both your WIP and the video. Beautiful colors on the Crossbill and any thing that eats aphids is a friend of mine! : )
Thankis for stopping by Barbara -yes, we could do with a few crossbills in the greenhouse just now :)
Gannets are the largest seabird over here I think, and have peircing blue eyes. Very beautiful.
Post a Comment