8. Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus)

Here's a picture to illustrate why identifying your goose by its leg colour is easier said than done. Other distinguishing features of pink-footed goose against bean goose are apparently that its flanks are darker than its back, and that its tail has a broad white tip where the bean goose's is narrow - neither of which can be seen well in this photo! It all shows that there's no substitute for careful observation in the field!

Pink-footed goose, ©Ian-S, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Pink-footed goose sketch.

Tried to do this one fairly quickly and I don't think it's come out too badly, although maybe the neck is a bit long.....it could easily be a bean goose. Ha.

7. Bean goose (Anser fabalis)

Bean goose, ©Cano Vääri, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Bean goose sketch.

Not too bad, the wing feathers are a bit manic and I think I made the wings both too narrow and too short, but still I quite like it - this time I watched This Is England whilst drawing, the good thing about drawing and watching a film is that I can spend more time on the drawing, the bad thing is that I can give neither my full attention. Ho hum!

Bean geese can be hard to tell apart from pink-footed geese, the main difference is that beans have orange feet - not always easy to see those though.

6. Lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)

Lesser white-fronted goose, ©michaelday_bath, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Lesser white-fronted goose sketch.

Annoyingly, the scanner has cut the bottom off even though the drawing did fit into the available space - doh! I spent a bit more time on this one than yesterday trying to get the feathers right - I didn't copy the pattern exactly, which would be the best way to achieve a convincing result, but tried to do a quick approximation in the time I had which I don't think looks too bad. Got a bit rushed by the time I got to the feet as you can probably tell!

It can be told apart from the white-fronted goose by its smaller more delicate bill which is always pink (can be orangey in white-fronted), prominent yellow orbital (eye) ring and white blaze usually extending back over the crown  - although this one's doesn't seem to have quite got there yet.

5. White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons)

And we're onto the grey geese. I really liked this photo of a white-fronted goose seen from a slightly unusual angle, I'm not going to learn much about the wing plumage in drawing it but perhaps that's for the best as I've managed to cock up the plumage that is visible. Not happy with this drawing - I've overworked the feathers and consequently it's too dark and a bit flat-looking, and I've made the shape of the body much too wide. Oh well, got a few more grey geese to practice on yet!

White-fronted goose, ©winnu, via Flickr Creative Commons. 

White-fronted goose sketch.

4. Snow goose (Anser caerulescens)

As I don't have any of my own photos of snow geese (unsurprisingly, I've never seen one in the wild), I had an enjoyable peruse for photos online and found this one - I'm excited to draw a bird in flight instead of sitting on the water. 

Snow goose, ©Larry1732, via Flickr Creative Commons.

 

Snow goose sketch.

This is the white morph but it also comes in a blue morph with blue/grey plumage except for a white head, neck and tail, which is thus known as the blue goose, I guess that's what the latin caerulescens refers to. Looks like there is some disagreement over the genus as my Collins guide says Anser, but Google also tells me other authorities place it in the Chen genus.

I attribute any shoddiness in this drawing to the fact that I did it last night whilst also watching 'Captain America: The First Avenger' with Chris as he needed cheering up. Actually I'm quite pleased with it so maybe I should do all my drawings while watching daft superhero films.

3. Bewick's/tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus)

Having scrutinised yesterday's drawing a bit more closely, I've noticed that while it does resemble a fairly plausible Whooper swan, it's not entirely an accurate rendering of the photo. For example, the shape made inside the curve of the neck on the photo is quite different in my drawing! If I'd drawn the space inside the neck rather than the neck itself, I think it would have come out better. This brings back distant recollections of my A-level Art teacher banging on about negative space, and much more recent memories of Darren Woodhead at Gullfest explaining how rather than outlining shapes, just fills in the areas he doesn't want to be white. Obviously advice which I need to take on board.

Today's drawing is a bit rushed - Monday nights are busy what with the weekly shop, yoga/pilates and Game of Thrones!

Bewick's swan sketch.

Bewick's swan at Slimbridge, 13/02/2011.

I dug out this photo of a slightly inquisitive looking Bewick's swan at Slimbridge, sadly my drawing looks rather incurious though, it's all in the angle of the neck I think. Bewick's are most easily told apart from Whoopers by less yellow on the bill, in a more rounded rather than wedge shape which doesn't extend beyond the nostril.

2. Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus)

 Quite a bit more pleased with today's efforts than yesterday's. I made a conscious effort to try and sketch out the basic shape of the whole bird before adding any detail, and I think it is more in proportion as a result. Still struggling with fitting into the available space though, perhaps I need to use a whole page rather than a half per bird - I blame my tight Yorkshire nature for trying to get 2 drawings out of every page, maybe I need to accept that I'll just have to fork out for another sketchbook sooner.  

Whooper swan sketch.

Whooper swan at Tjörnin, 08/09/2012.

I took this photo on the lovely Tjörnin lake in central Reykjavík, Iceland, where there are Whoopers aplenty! Funny to see them in the middle of a city but very nice to hear them bugling away there.

Tjörnin lake, Reykjavík, 08/09/2012.