Bird Watching
May 12, 10:24 PM

When forests full of towering trees, lush meadows and rich earth are replaced with power lines, buildings and cement, most animals disappear but not the birds. Ever adaptable birds of all kinds have learned how to live in our concrete world. Bird watching is a way for everyone everywhere to enjoy wildlife when wilderness is seemingly gone. Even if you live in a big city with cliff like buildings, you might catch a glimpse of a raptor such as the peregrine falcon or a red tailed hawk.

Osprey photo by Jason Christopher
At DreamWorks, far from any wilderness, I work as a story artist where we have many avian visitors from the humble sparrow to egrets, herons, mallards and the occasional osprey. My colleague Jason Christopher took this photo of an osprey that was admiring the koi pond at DreamWorks.

Bird watching can make the most urban areas feel wild again. A few months ago while I was wrestling my children into their car seats I spotted a cooper’s hawk across the parking lot. I quickly pulled out my pocket sketchbook and sketched the urban accipiter.

Killdeer & Nest
Birds are able to live in the most unlikely places from houses to office buildings and power lines. I’ll never forget when I first saw a killdeer protecting her nest. I was about thirteen years old and mowing lawns in the late spring. As I tried to mow a particular spot a killdeer ran in front of the mower. The killdeer would peep peep and fly right up to me and feign a broken wing trying to lure me away from her nest. When I found the nest I left it undisturbed. After my encounter with the killdeer I began in earnest watching birds.

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Comments

My dream raptor, so beautifully posing for you. You are really lucky

— Thomas · May 19, 07:17 AM · #