Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) has always been such a tempting subject for me to draw. I have only seen this critically endangered species once in Thailand back in 2001, roughly a year after I first started birding. I visited Khok Kham in Samut Sakhon province with my dad. We were lucky to meet a very well known birder and a professional guide who pointed the bird out for us. The bird that I saw back then was an adult in non-breeding plumage feeding along with hundreds or thousands of Red-necked Stints. Here in this painting, I chose to paint 2 juvenile birds and only 1 adult to show that I'm still hoping that the birds are recovering its population. The plants in the picture are Herbaceous Seepweed (Suaeda maritima), an abundant plant in salt pans and coastal areas where the Spoon-billed Sandpipers inhabit. This plant changes its colour from green to yellow, red and violet during dry season. It has small roundish flowers located at the base of the leaves.
Wonderful sketches yet again, like I said before you should try and make a career out of this.
ReplyDelete