GARDEN ART WEEKLY Common Redpolls
1. Take a nature walk at the Garden and keep your eyes out for Common Redpolls to take a picture or draw if you see one.
2. Begin by drawing an outline of the bird.
3. Draw a curved line for the head and two diagonal lines for the beak.
4. Draw a longer curved line from of the base of the head for the back of the bird’s body.
5. Draw a shorter rounder curved line on the other side for the bird’s chest.
6. Now draw the birds tail using diagonal lines that make a ‘w’ like notch at the tip.
7. Next draw some of the interior lines on the inside of your bird drawing.
8. Draw the curve at the back of the beak.
9. Leave a space after the curve of the beak and then draw the eye.
10. Count how many streaks you see and use diagonal lines to draw their wings.
11. Use colored pencils to color in your bird (brown, white, yellow, red, black).
12. Redpolls are brown and white with a yellow bill and a small red patch on their forehead.
13. Males have a pale red vest on the chest and upper flanks.
14. Look for curves, shapes, and colors in the photos provided or that you take yourself.
15. Now draw some diagonal and curved lines to make the feet.
16. If you want, draw a stick or branch for your bird to sit on using diagonal lines.
17. Share your drawing with a friend or email a photo of it to art@alaskabg.org.
Common Redpolls are tiny birds from the finch family who nest in the Arctic and sometimes reach Canada and northern states. Redpolls eat mainly seeds from trees like birch, willow, alder, spruce, and pine. These birds live in open woodland and tundra habitats, as they can survive very cold climates.(Audubon)
Redpolls have a pouch in their throat where they can store food for up to several hours. This method of feeding helps them in cold weather by allowing them to feed in the open and then digest food over a longer period while it rests in a sheltered spot. (Audubon)
Redpolls are brown and white birds with heavily streaked sides. Look for a small red forehead patch, black feathering around a yellow bill, and two white wing bars. Males have a pale red vest on the chest and upper flanks. (All about Birds)
Colored pencil colors can be mixed by layering two colors on top of each other when drawing to create new colors. Try mixing colors by drawing one color lightly on top of another color.
Try burnishing your colored pencil by blending, layering, and pushing harder as you draw and putting your lines closer together so no white shows through from the paper. This will make your colors brighter and darker and give a nice quality to the drawing.
“Home.” Audubon, http://www.audubon.org/common redpoll.
“Common Redpoll Identification, All about Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/id#. February 16, 2022, 6:26 pm