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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sketching in anything available

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.

- Emily Dickinson



The Red Bishop on my fence post...

I was cleaning up and came upon some old books, so I carried them to the patio with a cup of tea and was busy going through them to decided which ones to throw out, when the Bishop in all his glory caught my eye. The male's buzzing song alerting the female to the nest he's building for her is always the first to alert me of their return. I was so excited to see them that I grabbed one of the books, opened it and started sketching him sitting on the fence post. I then rushed to get some paints and got his colours while he was flitting around, showing off to the female. So now none of the books are being thrown out - I've found a new use for them!

He only carries these colours during the breeding season and in Winter reverts to brown similar to the female, below.