It has been a very great personal journey to learn to paint all the birds I’ve shared here. My journey began more than a decade ago here with learning to paint the Red-tailed Hawk. In the last year I’ve picked up a very basic spotting scope and have (with luck) been able to catch some reasonably decent photographs of those original favorite birds of mine. 

Here’s a series of photographs that I’ve taken in Illinois and California. 

And here’s a few of the Cooper’s hawks I’ve managed to snap a picture of in Illinois and South Carolina. 

And just a few other raptors I’ve spotted in Illinois and California. American kestrel, Bald Eagle, and Northern Harrier.