A Hot Date

Did the post title perk you up for a minute in that supermarket tabloid kind of way? Did you wonder if perhaps I was finally going to admit to some colorful personal details that might make your day a little more interesting? Well I'm going to dash your hopes. My hot date was just an artist date I've been promising myself since we moved to a town with its own small zoo. I'm as sick of all the boxes and unpacking as you would be if I kept posting about it, so time for a field trip!

There's nothing quite as sleepy (and smelly) as a zoo on a hot summer day. All the animals are hidden away in the shade somewhere and the flies are out in abundance. I was also counting on the fact that the humans would hide away in their air-conditioning, leaving the zoo to me, my sketchbook and the hot animals.

Of course first I had to find some animals to sketch...

Water - relief from the heat and the flies.

This big guy found a comfy hollow in the dirt in which to sleep away the day. The rock provided a little privacy from all the paparazzi.

A couple of hot mountain goats dreaming of cool green alpine meadows.

Let's not give in to all the roasted turkey comments we could make.

This marmot was not part of any zoo exhibit and seemed unfazed by the heat.

Unidentified Toucan No More!

The mystery is solved! This photogenic bird that posed so nicely for me at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle back in September is a green aracari (Pteroglossus viridis); a type of toucan. You may remember I did a painting of it as well, but I couldn't identify what kind of toucan it was. Today I was surfing the internet, dreaming of someday being able to have the time and money to visit the Canopy Lodge in Panama for a birding vacation and noticed a photo from a visitor that looked a lot like my mystery bird. It was identified as a collared aracari. So I hopped back to the Seattle Zoo's website and typed "aracari" into the search feature instead of "toucan" and sure enough, I got a hit for "green aracari". I then google-imaged (I can hear the grammar mavens out there shuddering) "green aracari" and bingo - tons of photos of my bird!

The green aracari is found in northern South America and is the smallest of the toucans. It is also the only toucan species in which the male and female look different (called sexual dimorphism). Males have a black head whereas females, which is apparently what my bird is, have what is described as a rusty chestnut head (looks dark maroon to me...) and a slightly smaller bill.

So daydreaming and surfing the Web today turned out to be a productive activity for once. Plus fantasizing about seeing a green aracari in the tropics took my mind off the latest cold snap we're headed into. Brrr.

Seattle Zoo

I've had a hankering to do some tropical bird drawings lately, probably inspired by the beautiful artwork at Drawing the Motmot. Since I am sadly not going to be heading to any tropical rain forests anytime soon, I decided that a trip to the zoo was imperative when we planned our quick visit to Seattle. I knew I wouldn't have time to sketch, but at least I could get some photo references. I could kick myself for not taking better notes, but we were on a tight schedule with a ferry to catch and I was kind of snapping photos on the run. Anybody know exactly what these birds are?

I didn't realize there were so many species of toucans. This one really posed for me.

I was not on a mammal mission but I couldn't resist this picture. He/she just looks soooo relaxed. That's the life!