Rough Sketches of Bird Behavior

I will get back to the Prairie Journal later. I wanted to show how rough some of my observational sketches are, day-to-day.

Why show the scribbles? These are *not* Art. But they are examples of how keeping a regular sketchbook or journal can prompt scientific questions. It can also help you work through some of those questions, and is an important record of what you are seeing.

If I draw something, I remember what I see much more clearly. The artistic and the logical, scientific side of the brain are working together. The scientist wins most of the battle in pages like this, though. I need to get the information down, fast. It is too easy to forget details.

Here is one of my field journal pages as an example. I was looking out of the back window, and I saw four woodpeckers (Northern Flickers) in the yard. That is unusual: I usually see only one at a time.

Sorry about the red glare!

Two of them put their beaks into the air and began to bob their heads and move them side to side. It looked like a dance. I grabbed the sketchbook, scribbled down their positions in the grass, and made some notes. I always include a date, and usually include a bit about the weather. I didn't try to get a realistic Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker drawing down. Just the rough shapes, and a record of the motion.

The next step was to comb my books. What were they doing? They flew off in separate directions after doing this dance, so maybe it wasn't a courtship dance. I found nothing in the first three books I checked, and then found in the Birder's Handbook that it probably was a courtship dance. I noted that, and the reference.

This then prompted further questions. Why now? Shouldn't I have seen this in the spring? It seems strange for the end of summer. Maybe there is time to raise another brood of Flickers. How long does it take to incubate the eggs, and fledge the young? Where are they nesting? These are questions I still need to research, and in the case of the nest, observe to try to find out.

Because I have this rough scribble, I can use this as a jumping-off point to learn more about the Flickers. Maybe someone else has observed this in my part of Nebraska in August. And, if not, here is a record! I sometimes look back through my field journals, and can see trends over time.

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Birds and other animals can be tough to sketch, especially when they are moving. The end result is worth it, even if you think it is too rough. You can always go back later and do a detailed drawing based on what you have learned. Think of this as information-gathering, and keep it in a separate field book, not where you keep your artistic drawings. That helps to separate the two.