On checking my emails this morning I found I had a request to put up two more ID's for the Bird Section. These two species , Soccoro Dove and white-rumped shama, we have elsewhere in the zoo and ID's have been done for them before, so it was just a question of finding out whether a single or double version was required and then printing them out. As it happened I had a Socorro dove ID on file but the shama had to be printed off. To add to the job I also had to print out a single version of the Palawan peacock pheasant ID also, as the one on show was a double and I needed the space (doubles obviously take the space of two singles) to put up the shama. The job was done easily with no complications or hitches which was nice as the first job after the weekend.
As I walked across the zoo I saw a grey heron circling over the zoo, that was quite unusual.. usually we get lesser black-back and herring gulls and jackdaws.. so I was drawn to watching it. I saw it circle the centre of the zoo over the lake area twice before peeling off and flying away... with two gulls in pursuit who when they caught up with it took to harassing it to ensure it continued on its way. No doubt it could see the multitude of carp in our lake.. and had fanciful ideas on doing a spot of fishing there. Perhaps it was the enclosed nature of the area and/or the amount of people walking around that put it off. Maybe it is or will now be a night-time visitor.
As I walked across the zoo I saw a grey heron circling over the zoo, that was quite unusual.. usually we get lesser black-back and herring gulls and jackdaws.. so I was drawn to watching it. I saw it circle the centre of the zoo over the lake area twice before peeling off and flying away... with two gulls in pursuit who when they caught up with it took to harassing it to ensure it continued on its way. No doubt it could see the multitude of carp in our lake.. and had fanciful ideas on doing a spot of fishing there. Perhaps it was the enclosed nature of the area and/or the amount of people walking around that put it off. Maybe it is or will now be a night-time visitor.
Next I started on the illustration of the kowari. This is a pencil drawing so should be done fairly quickly. I sketched out the animal's shape first, having though about what position would 'sit' nicely on the finished ID. I have a selection of 6 images that I am using and one of them had the basic position I thought would suit the purpose, however it was sat on some branches and I wanted to put this one on the ground so I changed the feet and added the two limbs farthest from the viewer as they were not in the photo and it would look strange without them as an illustration.
Once I had the animal's body shape mapped out (you can see the circles I used to 'plan' the animal's size and position) I then traced it onto a piece of Schoellershammer paper. This is lovely to work on with graphite pencils. I have a soft wash brush to take away the loose graphite without smudging the drawing, a piece of paper under my right (drawing) hand as I work from left to right. I also have a scalpel to keep my pencils sharp and a piece of test paper to try out pencil strokes and weight on.
I started on the head using 4H and F pencils for the fur and 7B for the eyes (except for the reflected light on the right hand eye, which was done using the 4H). I use strokes short and carefully follow the direction of fur around the face and ears, building up from the lightest of touches with the pencil to darker tones - changing grade of pencil as it darkens to stop me pressing hard and creating indentations in the paper.
By lunchtime I had got this far.....
By the end of the day I had got this far.....
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