68. Double-spurred Francolin (Francolinus bicalcaratus)

I am back after a cracking weekend of music and fun at ATP! Dan Deacon and Steve Reich + the London Sinfonietta were my favourites. I didn't let the epic winds hamper my between-bands beach birding, highlights included Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Common, Sandwich and Little Tern, woo!

Back to the real world now, I have reached Double-spurred Francolin. Another member of the pheasant family, it is widespread in parts of East Africa and there are a few isolated populations in parts of Morocco. Its heavily black-streaked underparts are the most distinctive feature that tell it apart from the same-sized Barbary Partridge (which I will be drawing sometime next week) which also occurs in the same area.

Double-spurred Francolin, ©jvverde, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Double-spurred Francolin sketch.

This was a pretty quick drawing, I actually did it on Monday night (have been tardy posting it!) so was quite tired after the weekend. Despite that I don't think it's too bad, the plumage patterns are very vague and the angle is not quite right but the overall shape is OK I think.