FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 20: Aquatic
-> Olrog's Gull

It's the last day of #feathruary and you knew my last pick had to be a gull, right?

May I introduce to you: Olrog's gull! It is named after 20th century Swedish ornithologist Claës Christian Olrog who worked in Argentina, where most of the Olrog's gull population lives.

This bird has an oddly specific range: it can be found between 38.49° and 45.11°S, mostly in and around Bahía Blanca, an Argentinian city by the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, Olrog's gulls are classified as "Near Threatened" due to loss of habitat.

FUN FACT
Their name in their native range is "gaviota cangrejera" which translates to crab-eater gull. This is because their main diet consists of three different species of crabs, namely Chasmagnathus granulata, Cyrtograpsus altimanus, and Cyrtograpsus angulatus.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #gull #gulls #seagull #seagulls #olrogsgull

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 19: Long Range
-> Arctic Tern

Have you ever thought about the circle of life and rebirth and such? Have you ever thought about which animal (or other creature) you would like to be reborn as? I have, but I've never really found an answer, until today. In my next life, I want to be an arctic tern please!

Why, you ask? Let me explain:
The arctic tern is famous for its migration (thus my choice for the "long range" prompt). Each and every year, it flies from its breeding grounds in the Arctic (hence the name "arctic tern" to the Antarctic - and back again!

Just to make it clear how impressive that is: The shortest (!) distance between these two regions is 19,000km / 12,000mi! That is over 452 marathons!

This means that these birds see not one, but two summers every year - and thus they see more daylight than any (!) other creature on this planet. Imagine: Two whole summers instead of the two sunny wednesdays we usually get (in Germany at least)! This could be us! Me and who? 👉👈

Studies have shown that the remarkable flight of the arctic tern has even been underestimated for ages! That is because these birds do not fly in a straight line, thus taking the most direct route to their destination, but rather fly according to prevailing winds which they take advantage of. So, some birds fly up to 81,600km / 50,700mi per year.

The average lifespan of the arctic tern is about 30 years. This means that it travels about 2.4 million km / 1.5 million miles during its life - the equivalent of more than three round-trips from Earth to Moon. Now tell me, how frickin' awesome is that?! 😍

FUN FACT
The arctic tern has been featured on postal stamps of several countries, including Canada, Cuba, Finland, and Iceland, as well as territories such as Åland, Alderney, and Faroe Islands.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #tern #terns #arctictern #arcticterns

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 18: Cage
-> Cockatiel

Now, disclaimer: Of course, I chose a bird fitting the prompt "cage", the cute cockatiel who is often held in cages. However, I do not condone keeping birds in cages whatsoever. Birds don't belong in cages, full stop.

Obviously, nowadays, there are lots of birds who are already here on this Earth and can't survive in the wild; obviously, it's perfectly okay, necessary even, for people to rescue these birds and give them the best possible life under the given circumstances. However, as for all pets, my opinion stands: Adopt, don't shop. Don't create demand by buying birds from breeders. Birds belong in their natural habitat, not in crammy cages.

Anyway, the cockatiel, when not in a cage, is actually native to Australia, where you can see loads of wild cockatiels. They are super sweet and cheerful and like singing and imitating voices or sounds - you probably all know videos of cockatiels who sing entire melodies or imitate, I dunno, toasters, microwaves, you name it.

With their cute orange cheeks and their adorable button eyes, they were one of the first birb species I fell in love with way back then. :)

FUN FACT
The oldest documented cockatiel ever was 36 years old - that's older than me and quite impressive for a species with an average lifespan of 12-15 years.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #cockatiel #cockatiels

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 17: Parking Lot
-> Ring-Billed Gull

The prompt is "parking lot birds", does anyone think of anything other than seagulls?!

I chose the ring-billed gull, a beautiful, fierce and strong-willed birb who is even found in parking lots or other places where humans possibly lose food (and the definition of "lose" is quite loose here, because sometimes it simply means that these birbs will snatch your snack right out of your hand :D).

Their diet usually includes fish, invertebrates, snails and even carrion, but these not-at-all-shy birds have come closer and closer to cities over the years and can now be observed chasing kids with ice cream cones, snatching fish burgers out of unsuspecting tourists' hands or even robbing gas stations and taking bags of crisps. They want it, they take it - I love them so much! 😍

FUN FACT
In the 19th century, the ring-billed gull was frequently hunted for its plumage. Fortunately, the population has since rebounded and it is now not only the most common gull in North America, but also the third most common bird worldwide with an estimated population of 1.2 billion birds.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #gull #gulls #seagull #seagulls #ringbilledgull #ringbilledgulls

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 16: Backyard
-> Baltimore Oriole

The 4th and final week of #feathruary has started! And the first prompt I tackled was "backyard".

Granted, I will never see one of these beauties in my backyard, but since I have already drawn every German backyard birb at least once, I looked on and eventually landed (ha!) on this one.

Baltimore orioles are quite common in North America, where they live in the Nearctic during summer and migrate to winter in the Neotropics.

Because of their beautiful colour and song, people grew very fond of them and arranged special oriole feeders in their backyards; orioles discovered those and lead their young ones there, resulting in them becoming popular backyard birbs.

They mainly feed on fruit and nectar, but unlike other fruit-eating birbs, they prefer very ripe fruit, picking only the darkest and juciest berries for example. They also like to mlem on halved oranges and have been observed to be fond of grape jelly. So, if you live near them and want to attract them, you know what to do. :D

FUN FACT
The Baltimore oriole gets its name from 17th century Lord Baltimore. Their colours match those of Lord Baltimore's coat-of-arms, hence the name. Today, it is the state birb of Maryland and namesake and mascot for the Baltimore Orioles, a baseball team.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #oriole #orioles #baltimoreoriole #maryland

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 15: Climb
-> Yellow-Fronted Woodpecker

This colourful fella can be found in South America and lives in (sub-)tropical forests.

It's a very social bird; several families breed together and help each other watching the fledglings or foraging for food. They also like calling a lot and have several different calls for different situations. As most woodpeckers, they also like to, well, peck on wood.

FUN FACT
As I mentioned earlier, they inhabit forests; but since more and more woodland is replaced, the woodpeckers have adapted and now inhabit sugar cane plantations and orchards.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #bitb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #woodpecker #woodpeckers #yellowfrontedwoodpecker

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 14: Hop
-> Rockhopper Penguin

Rockhopper penguins are three kinds of crested penguins who live near rocky shores and breed in tall tussock grass. They are generally on the smaller side with a body length of up to 50cm (half a blahaj). Males and females look the same, so a DNA test would be needed to determine a rockhopper penguin's sex.

Even though they look somewhat similar because of their magnificent yellow crest, rockhopper penguins are not to be confused with macaroni penguins.

Rockhopper penguins feed on every small thing they find in the ocean. They are really good divers and can dive up to 100m (330ft) for several minutes while hunting.

Unfortunately, their numbers have declined drastically over the last decades, the reason being, you guessed it, humans. Commercial overfishing, oil spillings, polution and climate change all contribute to the depletion of the rockhopper penguin's food supply and thus to the decrease of their numbers.

FUN FACT
There are three subspecies of the rockhopper penguin: the Southern, Eastern, and Northern rockhopper penguin. The funny thing is though, experts are still fighting over how to categorize them. Some consider all three of them to be distinct species, some consider only the Northern rockhopper penguin as a distinct species and others think they are all just the same species. No consensus has been reached thus far.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #penguin #penguins #rockhopperpenguin #rockhopperpenguins

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 12: Busy
-> Spotted Towhee

Meet the spotted towhee, a really cool birb! It is a New World Sparrow whose taxonomy has been debated quite recently. It was only in 1995 that the spotted towhee and the eastern towhee were considered two separate species.

They are about the size of robins and has characteristic white spots on its rufous sides - which the eastern towhee does not have by the way.

These birbs lay at least (!) two broods, consisting of three to five eggs, per season. Once their fledglings have hatched, males will forage noisly and busily to feed them, while females stay in the nest to protect the family. After just 10 to 12 days, the young birbs leave the nest to go on their merry way.

FUN FACT
These birbs live in regions often affected by forest fires (not fun) and thrive in areas recovering from forest fires due to their excellent ground foraging abilities. They are also found on Socorro Island, a volcanic island near Mexico; the specimen living there tend to be much smaller than other spotted towhees, hence they are sometimes treated as their own species, the Socorro Towhee.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #towhee #towhees #spottedtowhee

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 12: Solitary
-> Solitary Sandpiper

I mean, "solitary" is already in the name! And as the name suggests, this birb likes to be left alone and tends to get quite aggressive when somebirdy tries to disturb its solitary peace (understandable). Groups of more than three of these birbs are very rarely seen.

During mating season, two solitary sandpipers begrudgingly join a monogamous partnership for a short period of time. After the eggs are laid, the parents take turns breeding them for 22 to 24 days and after 18 to 21 more days, the fledglings leave the nest and everyone goes their merry way.

FUN FACT
The solitary sandpiper is found across Alaska and Canada; however, it is a migratory bird who winters in the Carribbean, so I decided to give it a tropical holiday background, lol.

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #sandpiper #sandpipers #solitarysandpiper

FEATHRUARY 2025

Prompt 11: Flock
-> Mediterranean Gull

We're already starting week 3 of #feathruary and this week's theme is "behaviour"!

When I read "flock", gulls immediately come to mind (although, to be fair, gulls come to my mind all the time anyway). They are very social birbs and like to live in large colonies.

The mediterranean gull is a slightly larger and more robust gull with a heavier beak and stronger legs than, for example, the black-headed gull.

They used to live only around the Black Sea, which is actually not an ocean, but a mediterranean lake between Europe and Asia. I'm sure most of you know that, although they are often called "seagulls", lots of gull species don't live near the ocean.

Today, mediterranean gulls are found throughout Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland, some Scandinavian countries and the Balkans.

FUN FACT
Gulls can be confusing anyway, because many species look very similar to one another. Their German names make it even more confusing: The Mediterranean Gull is called "Schwarzkopfmöwe" in German, which literally translates to "black-headed gull". However, the Black-Headed Gull is another gull species and their German name is "Lachmöwe" ("laughing gull"). These two are not the same though, in fact, they aren't even in the same genus of gulls! The mediterranean gull belongs to the Ichthyaetis genus while the black-headed gull belongs to the Chroicocephalus genus. Ha!

#feathruary #feathruary2025 #bird #birds #birb #birbs #birdart #digitalart #drawing #gull #gulls #seagull #seagulls #mediterraneangull #mediterraneangulls