birdspot

East Coast, West Coast. The other night I fell asleep to a Western Screech-Owl calling softly out my window. Today I am sketching an Eastern Screech-Owl. I drew a Western Screech a couple of years ago in ink. I couldn’t work in color then. Now, in my new invisible girl state, a person without a home and one rapidly losing an identity, I throw colors around on a screen. Subtle colors, in this case. Where on earth will I settle into at the end of this year? Have you ever been without a definite plan, cut loose?

Above: Eastern Screech-Owl, digital sketch.
Below: Western Screech-Owl, ink on paper.

Early morning, in the canyon again. (more…)

Traversing the country, drawing lines of a sort and making scrawls on a geography vast enough to spur both awe and despair, I have been keeping lists. This is a Big Year. It is not a year in which I am trying to break records for numbers of bird species seen, as that would be ridiculous. I have neither the funds nor the willingness to visit a place – as every place is a Place – merely to tick something from it, and then run to the next place, to tick something from that.

Sightings are sightings however, and records are useful. I like to make my records tangible, give my memories a form. I thought I would share some of my lists from my trip in a few posts this week. It isn’t physical here though, is it? Paper is a beautiful thing, in its physicality, for its tactile qualities. All the little scraps I have collected will likely long outlast me, even if they flutter off to sink into a landfill somewhere. This has become something different; everything has become something different this year.

Images, top to bottom (click for larger image):

Studies of Plain Chachalacas, digital sketch (drawn in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet)
List 01 (Summary): Digital image and ink on paper
List 02 (TX): Digital image and ink on paper (detail below)

Since May 26, I have travelled 8,037 miles, and both my car (a 2000 Subaru, affectionately titled the Lesburu) and my person are showing signs of exhaustion. I broke down in North Carolina, the car broke down in North Dakota. I got myself back together, and the car begrudgingly hauled me to California, grinding and rattling the whole way. It now sits resting in a driveway. The resting is doing me a world of good, but nothing really for the car, which needs a host of repairs. Fingers crossed on the total. There are no Dairy Queens here (I had fantasies of getting stuck for months in North Dakota and working at one).

In other news, I am collating my lists (numbers, everywhere!) of birds I have seen during the year. It’s a little insane, and I’ll post my progress on Monday. I did not set out to do a big year in terms of bird listing, but now I’m feeling twitchy and wondering if I can clean up certain North American species before the end of 2011. In other other news, I am doing a lot of sketching, and making up some postcards from my journeys.

Above: sketches of California Quail, who entertained me with their daily rounds, parading in front of the window while I was holed up working in NoCal.