Tyto alba.
The most widespread species of owl on the planet. They’re found on every continent except Antarctica. The barn owl diet consists primarily of small rodents. Habitats range from forested, urban, and agricultural areas.
It as a joy to paint a larger portrait after finishing the year-long panel project. To help the light color of the Barn Owl stand out, I used a blue wash on the wood panel.
After the last few field-guide inspired panels, I got started on my largest undertaking yet in my 10+ years of exploring birds and painting. I have long wanted to take my love for field guide artwork and layout a large collection of species on one panel.
My father hand crafted for me this massive (compared to my usual 16×20”) 30” x 40” panel. He handed it off to me in December of 2021 and I began selecting and doing the layout math.
When selecting the species for this project I came up with a number of species from every continent that birds of prey are found on, that being all but Antarctica.
It came out to 114 species of birds in all.
22 hawks from the Accipiter Genus,
26 hawks from the Buteo genus,
27 species of falcons,
18 species of eagles,
9 species of snake-eagles,
6 species of harriers,
5 species of Kites,
And one Osprey.
I began the pencil work in the first week of February and painting began at the end of March. Then over the course of the following months with acrylic paint I brought to life on the panel all 114 species.
To call the process a learning experience is an understatement. I poured through dozens of reference photos and books for each and every bird. Getting to know each one as best as I could.
It’s not just the colors and look of the birds I was after but rather everything I can find on diet, habitats, and range.
My biggest take away is how connected the world is through its birds.
The Eleonora’s falcon you watched hunting birds on the shores of a beach in Madagascar today was hunting shore birds in Italy six months ago. (That’s a 4,715 mile flight).
The Broad-wing hawk you saw in that Canadian forest last summer? It’s spending the winter in Argentina. (A cool 7,085 mile flight). So it stands to reason that habitat loss anywhere in between deeply affects all these birds and their prey animals.
Aside from all the information I learned about the various species, it was an excellent lesson in patience and enjoying the process. Theres no good way to paint this many species in the detail I want and do it fast. So I worked slowly and enjoyed the long haul of the undertaking each hour at a time and each feather at a time.
The mediums I used on this project were pencil, pen, and acrylic paint.
And the master “Who’s Who” list. from left to right:
A:
Accipiter cooperii, Accipiter striatus, Accipiter gentilis, Accipiter badius, Accipiter ovampensis, Accipiter castanilius, Accipiter melanoleucus, Accipiter minullus, Accipiter tachiro, Accipiter francesiae, Accipiter henstii.
B:
Accipiter madagascariensis, Accipiter melanochlamys, Accipiter erythrauchen, Accipiter novaehollandiae, Accipiter chionogaster, Accipiter chilensis, Accipiter albogularis, Accipiter poliogaster, Accipiter rufitorques, Accipiter fasciatus, Accipiter trinotatus.
C:
Buteo regalis, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteo lineatus, Parabuteo leucorrhous, Buteo hemilasius, Buteo albonotatus, Buteo ventralis, Buteo platypterus, Buteo albigula, Buteo nitidus, Buteo brachyurus, Buteo lagopus, Rupornis magnirostris.
D:
Buteo augur archeri, Buteo solitarius, Buteo augur, Buteo brachypterus, Buteo auguralis, Buteo swainsoni, Buteo ridgewayi, Buteo poecilochrous, Buteo exsul, Buteo polyosoma, Buteo galapagoensis, Buteo oreophilus, Buteo rufofuscus.
E:
Falco mexicanus, Falco peregrinus, Falco rusticolus, Falco cuvierii, Falco eleonorae, Falco sparverius, Falco cenchroides, Falco ardosiaceus, Falco moluccensis, Falco subbuteo, Falco columbarius, Falco hypoleucos, Falco tinnunculus, Falco concolor
F:
Falco alopex, Falco longipennis, Falco subniger, Falco berigora, Falco chicquera, Falco biarmicus, Falco jugger, Falco cherrug, Falco fasciinucha, Falco femoralis, Falco rufigularis, Falco deiroleucus, Falco novaeseelandiae
G:
Polemaetus bellicosus, Aquila spilogaster, Hieraaetus pennatus, Hieraaetus ayresii, Aquila africana, Aquila fasciata, Haliaeetus vocifer, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Haliaeetus pelagicus.
H:
Harpia harpyja, Spizaetus ornatus, Spizaetus tyrannus, Aquila chrysaetos, Aquila verreauxii, Aquila audax, Aquila gurneyi, Aquila nipalensis.
I:
Terathopius ecaudatus, Circaetus cinerascens, Circaetus fasciolatus, Spilornis cheela, Spilornis holospilus, Dryotriorchis spectabilis, Spilornis rufipectus, Eutriorchis astur, Circaetus pectoralis.
J:
Circus hudsonius, Circus cinereus, Circus maurus, Circus ranivorus, Circus aeruginosus, Circus assimilis, Elanus leucurus, Royrhamus socrabilis, Lophoictinia isura, Gampsonyx swainsonii, Ictina mississippiensis, Pandion haliaetus.
Thank you so much for looking at birds with me.
So many more to come.
My two primary reference books were:
Weick, F., and L.H Brown. Birds of Prey of the World: A Coloured Guide to Identification of All the Diurnal Species Order Falconiformes. Paul Parey, 1980.
Ferguson-Lees, James, and David Christie. Raptors of the World. A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 2010.
Notable birds of the Falco genus from around the world. From left to right, top to bottom:
Red-Headed Falcon (Falco chicquera). Found in open grasslands of India and Africa.
Brown Falcon (Falco berigora). Found in a variety of habitats across Australia.
Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae) (Dark morph). A nomadic falcon that moves between the Mediterranean and Madagascar.
Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus). Found along Arctic and subarctic cliffs and coastlines and offshore islands.
Orange-Breasted Falcon (Falco deiroleucus). Found in tropical and subtropical forests of Central and South America.
All species maintain a diet composed primarily of birds and occasionally small mammals. Some of the species found in more tropical regions will also feed on insects and reptiles.
Falco novaeseelandiae
I’ve been looking forward to revisiting this member of the Falco genus for a while. The New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae). New Zealand’s only species of falcon.
This medium size bird of prey feeds primarily on birds, small mammals, reptiles, and insects. It most often hunts from a perch or from a high circular flight pattern diving to take prey. Like most falcons, prey is caught with talons and then dispatched with a bite to the neck/spine (unless it’s insects because that’s just like eating popcorn).
This falcon was originally found exclusively in native forests and dense brush. However with extensive deforestation they have adapted to open grasslands and agricultural areas.
A big thanks to my dad for this excellent wood panel to work on and thanks to you all for looking at birds with me.
Well it took me two and a half months but it was a fun project and I really learned a lot. The first lesson was how much changes in taxonomy over ten years. I started his panel calling it “Hawks of the Buteo genus” and I was using a reference guide from 2001. Well not all of these are grouped in the Buteo genus anymore but that didn’t spoil my fun any.
So here’s our panel starting at the top left:
Ridgway’s Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi), Gurney’s Hawk (Buteo poecilochrous), Zone-Tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus), White-Tailed Hawk (Geranoaetus albicaudatus), White-Rumped Hawk (Parabuteo leucorrhous), Red-Backed Hawk (Buteo polyosoma).
Galapagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), Roadside Hawk (Buteo magnirostris), Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), Hawaiian Hawk (Buteo solitarius), Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus).
Gray-Lined Hawk (Buteo nitidus), Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni), Rufous-Tailed Hawk (Buteo ventralis), Short-Tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus), White-Throated Hawk (Buteo albigula), Juan Fernández Hawk (Buteo exsul).
Rough-Legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus), Mountain Buzzard (Buteo oreophilus), Madagascar Buzzard (Buteo brachypterus), Red-Necked Buzzard (Buteo auguralis), Archer’s Buzzard (Buteo archeri), Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur).
This was a very fun and challenging project, from figuring out how to fit 24 hawks on one panel to laying them out in an orderly fashion. The first three rows are all found in North and South America. Row four finds a mix of Eurasian and African.
If anything this panel demonstrates the extensive biodiversity of North and South America and also my stubbornness in cramming as many hawks onto one page as possible.
Thank you so much for looking at birds with me.
My reference guide was:
James, and David. Raptors of the World. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.
There is one specific bird that has long stirred my spirit to move paint across page after page. To call it my muse wouldn’t be completely unfair. Buteo jamaicensis. North America’s Red-tailed Hawk.
Since my youth Red-tailed Hawks have captured my imagination. One of my earliest memories regarding birds was my father pointing out a perched Red-tailed Hawk in the field by our house. Then later a school visit to a wildlife rehabilitation center where I met my first hawk. And years later while I explored California’s central coast seeing them float on thermals inspired me to take all I’d learned from my sister about painting and use it to try and catch their wonder.
Red-tailed Hawks are found across almost all of North America. I’ve been across almost all of North America from one time or another and enjoyed these hawks on my travels. I put together this panel to demonstrate the incredible variety of colors they occur in.
Once again I’m proud to paint on a panel my father made for me. The same man who gave me my introduction to this great world of wildlife puts the pages right under my paintbrush.
Asio otus.
Here’s one we haven’t looked at together yet. A mid-size owl found across Eurasia, North Africa, and North America. They nest and hunt in lightly forested regions (preferring coniferous forests), agricultural areas, and in winter can occasionally be found in urban areas.
Their diet consists primarily of small rodents, but will also occasionally take birds, bats, and insects.
This was a fun painting to put together. Thanks so much for looking at birds with me.
We’ve looked at this bird more than any other here. This species has been the epicenter of my fascination with raptors for years. My goal with this panel was to illustrate the variety of plumages found in this species across North America. I’ve read this described as races or subspecies. I’m not sure what the right word is but it really is noteworthy how different the Western Red-tailed Hawk (bottom center) is in colors from a light-morph Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk (top right).
Red-tailed Hawks prefer to hunt in open regions such as prairie, urban, agricultural, savanna, and partially forested areas. They feed primarily on small mammals, reptiles, birds, and swarming insects.
Here’s a look at the painting process for fun. Thanks for looking at birds with me.
Falco peregrinus.
We’ve looked at this falcon several times here. From its astounding 200+ mph dives to its serrated knife of a bill that it utilizes to sever the spines of its prey. This bird is in a league of its own.
After the last panel painting I still had these speedy murder birds fresh in mind so I put together another panel. Thanks for looking at birds with me again.
Falco peregrinus.
The first Peregrine I saw was with my dad when he visited me in Morro Bay, Ca. at “the rock”. It was perched way up there and we checked it out via binoculars. The next peregrine I saw was while standing in the middle of a busy intersection in Oakland, Ca. Somebody yelled “Get outa the street asshole!” And all I could do was point at the cloud of pigeon feathers created by a falcon hitting prey at 200+ mph. Then a couple weeks later while at work at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, Ca. while drinking a beer with my coworker Brian (we were off the clock) one flew by and I lost my mind with excitement. It was like seeing a celebrity.
In late 2016 I planned to move back to Illinois. It became clear to me I needed to be closer to my family and those that I loved. A concern I had was that I’d see fewer of the birds I’d fallen so hard for and dedicated so much of my time to illustrate and learn about.
After four days on the road driving across half of North America and counting every hawk I saw (27) I pulled into my parents driveway. My dad (whom had driven all the way to California to help me move home) and I hugged in the drive way in celebration. This was the same place where we stood when I left for California almost 10 years prior. It was dusk and I walked out into the field next to the house and heard clearly the distinct call of a great horned owl. I knew then I was home and my raptor adventures had only just begun.
Leaving California was a big change in many ways. But then there I was this February in Chicago, the city by the lake, watching two peregrines hunting shorebirds. It was like watching cheetahs on the discovery channel hunt gazelle.
I’d been wanting to revisit this painting and pose for a while and finally got back to it on a wood panel my Dad made for me. Here we are almost exactly 5 years since I first put it on page (wooden page) in Oakland.
We’re back again coming in to land on an outstretched hand.
I’m so grateful for my family for all they have done to push me to learn, love, and grow. I’m also grateful for you for looking at birds with me. Thank you so much.
This one’s for you Dad!
farnco illustrations 