Return of the Hawk

I was sitting watching television yesterday when there was a "crash" against the big picture window. This is not unusual, the birds often get confused by the reflection and hit the window but this was louder then usual. Reason being it was not one but at least two birds, a sparrow and a much larger hawk which had chased the sparrow in that direction.For anyone that may have just wandered here or not been with me that long it is the second appearance this year of the hawk, something not seen in the preceeding ten years we have been here. We hang bird feeders and a couple of bird feeders right outside that window and as I said before while I appreciate the beauty and magnificance of this predator I do not want to furnish a hawk smorgisboard.

After the collision the sparrow and his friends took off for parts safer and the hawk flew up to a trestle we have by the deck, sitting there collecting his senses or maybe just showing anyone watching that he was unharmed and meant to do that, kind of like a cat that does something stupid will do if you know what I mean. Damn thing is that I usually have a camera around me, sitting on the table or at least nearby but of course it was put away somewhere else at that time or I could have got a picture as he sat there several minutes even while I had called my wife and she came out to look at it out the window.

I'm not sure what to do about it, if it was a regular type bird I could get a scarecrow, one of those owl or hawk dummies that supposedly scares the birds away from your garden ( I know from experience they don't work anyway). I'm not sure of what a hawk is afraid of though, other then maybe a shotgun but firing one off might get me too much attention. I'll have to think of something though, much as I liked seeing this bird twice now I really don't want to see it again, not at my birdfeeders anyway.

What , Bird's Again?

Well Yeah, what can I say. First I like them and second I see them every day outside the window where I sit. So they are on my mind a lot and that transfers to what I draw. I try to make them a little different each time. I could try a Cardinal now and then or a Blue Jay because we get those once in a while. The other birds don't like the Blue Jays of course, I understand they like to raid nests and eat eggs of the other smaller birds. Mostly though its sparrows which I think are cool even if they are common. I never knew how many different kinds there are until I started trying to find out what we have here. There are lots and lots of different sparrows even in this area. I still want to know who coined that phrase when they say someone " eats like a bird." meaning I guess that they don't eat much. We buy a 20# bag and are lucky if it lasts a week. I fill two feeders and one is all empty and the other mostly within two hours. Of course a lot of it is on the ground as they are choosy, looking for what they want and flipping the rest all over the place. When it's empty they will go to the ground and eat so it's a matter of preference, not that they wont eat it all.

This is a detail of a bigger drawing done in the usual watercolor pencil and inks.

I saw "that cartoon" probably the day it was published, not in the paper but on a Live Journal blog I look at now and then where they post editorial cartoons. My first thought was "that's well drawn, wish I could do that well" and then of course the second was " man, that's kind of crude."

After, I saw them arguing back and forth on Cnn about if it was offensive or not. What's to argue? As loathe as I am to agree with Mr. Sharpton that cartoon is pretty offensive.

I believe in freedom of speech for sure but if you have the attention the Post has you ought to have some responsibility along with it. I thought we had come further then this.

Anyway, this is an art blog, not opinion (but it's mine so I can do that). I fixed the picture of the girl. What was wrong was the hair, looked like just molded plastic or something. Went back and first put some darker lines in it which still wasn't right so used a knifepoint and scratched in some highlights which was good enough for me. Not even sure if it will show up here but posting the detail again with the changes. Other then that just some sparrows out by the feeder waiting for someone to come and fill them ( my wife did it shortly after). Like me I think they are more then ready for spring.