Blue Bird-of-Paradise; Paradisaea rudolphi

Oh HI. It's been a while, no? I'm a bad blogger, but I swear I have a very good reason for my absence. I will post about it soon. I haven't been able to go in to the Field Museum (sadness!) either, but finally got my butt back in there last week. It was nice to see everybody. Most of the scientists had returned from their various summer field excursions. Dave Willard, bird collections manager, had just returned from a long visit to Peru.

So, last week I spent my time at the Field reacquainting myself with the collections, took a bunch of photos, and sat down to do a little painting. And here's the latest result: a male Blue Bird-of-Paradise. There was a specimen in the public collection that I worked from (photo). They're so spectacular, I couldn't resist! Male Blue birds-of-paradise will, as you can see, hang upside down to make their spectacular, feathery displays for discerning females. Some of you that have seen the wonderful Planet Earth series would have seen some footage of this behavior there.

Well, I hope not to be such a stranger these days to Tiny Aviary, and hope, dear reader you will extend your patience and forgiveness for my absence. I am traveling next week to Seattle and the beautiful Pacific Northwest, but will post again before then. After I return on Sept. 8th, I should be updating more often. I hope you all have had a wonderful summer. As for myself, I am ecstatic that autumn is on its way!

*The watercolor is available in the Store.