The Common Ground Dove is an easy bird to overlook. Besides being one of the smallest species doves by both size and mass, they are cryptically colored and like to sit motionlessly on the ground. I seem to always come across them as they explode out from under my feet while I’m looking for other birds! When you do get a close look at them, they really have some spectacular, subtle coloration despite reading as an overall “dirty grey” in the distance. They have pinky-purples, blue-greys, rich yellows and blacks making they quite beautiful birds! I’m looking forward to painting this one.
The beauty of the pigeons and doves family of birds is often ignored. Perhaps they are just too common and are easily overlooked? One member of this family was incredibly hard to ignore in it’s day. The passenger pigeon was so prolific that its flocks would darken the skies. The massive collections of birds could take hours to pass overhead. Its estimated that some flocks contained several billion birds. In the end, this inexhaustible supply of animal life lost much of its habitat and was hunted to extinction. The passenger pigeon has the sad distinction of being a species who’s extinction is known to an exact date. The last confirmed sighting of a wild passenger pigeon was in 1910. The Cincinatti Zoo had the very last, single captive female named Martha. She died on Sept 1, 1914.
On to more pleasant topics! My favorite birds in this family are the Fruit Doves. These gorgeous fruit-eating birds of Southeast Asia and Oceania come in very parrot-like colors. Males and females are dimorphic, showing different coloration. I’ve only had the fortune of seeing these in zoos, but they never dissapoint. I’ve drawn a bunch in pencil, however black and white doesn’t do them justice. I need to paint one of these!
Leave a Reply