Something Different

Okay bird experts, what is it? It is something that I have never painted before.

Another one.

This is the entire painting, 8x10". These are the rarest of the alcids, a group of chunky seabirds that includes the puffins. These guys occur only in the outer Aleutian Islands, and I believe the Kuril Islands as well. They are Whiskered Auklets.
The pair in this painting are getting a running start across the surface of the water before take off. Flight is difficult when you have such comparatively tiny wings.

Right now is prime southward migration time for shorebirds. I rode my bicycle along the coastal trail to check them out. This is a view of downtown Anchorage at high tide.

There were many hundreds of the usual suspects, mostly Short-billed Dowitchers, like these at Westchester.

A lesser number of Hudsonian Godwits as usual, and very few smaller peeps.

Most of the Bonaparte's Gulls were still in their breeding plummage.