What if drawing makes me a better birder? Or. Just better?

Five things for early January. (Reprint of my most popular newsletter.)

Jan 09, 2024

Two Eastern bluebird sketches. Hard not to love bluebirds. I’ve learned the males are the vivid blue ones, the females more blue and gray.

1.

While I’m not particularly known for being slow and patient, my community science work each week of 2023 helped me slow my roll and be more observant. Now, when I’m on a trail crunching through the winter leaves, I notice details more carefully. At home, with my new bird feeder, I am a lot better at surveying the specifics of frisky, wild birds stopping in for a snack.

Last week I mentioned I’m reading David Allen Sibley’s book, Birding Basics. The way Sibley described bird flying patterns, especially undulation, captured my imagination. It’s wintertime. Perfect time for allowing imagination capture, and Sibley’s book is a great resource for me these days. He says that if we really want to learn the finer details of individual bird species, we should go beyond making lists and reading books about them, we should draw them. He writes:

“Sketching and taking notes (about birds) are very valuable exercises that can increase your understanding of and rate of learning simply by forcing you to translate what you are seeing into words and lines on paper. The act of doing that is enough to “cement” the memory, even if the sketch or words is a very poor representation.” -Sibley.

My feeder hangs outside the window where I now also hang out a lot. In late December, I started a daily bird sketching habit. I should stop here to clarify that the sketching part comes second, after community science. For community science, I upload a few pictures of each bird to iNaturalist. The pencil and paper part, that’s my new add-on. Last week, I worked on an Eastern Bluebird and a Pine Warbler which allowed me to dip into my blue and yellow-green pencils. Before that, I focused on the sharp neutrals and agreeable grays of the Carolina Chickadee, shades perfect for these drab gray winter days we are having lately.

2.

A few days ago, I joined an online nature journaling class. One of our writing prompts was: “What I know this winter. . .” We were to write in the mode of a ‘free write’ which is when you write quickly and simply, always keep that pencil moving is the rule. Some might say it is almost thoughtless writing, and if you allow it, a free write can help you uncover subconscious feelings. That happened to me. Here’s my free write:

What I know this winter is that it is a familiar feeling. It is slower in pace and it feels like something to get through. Knowing that, and writing that, I feel upset with myself. I don’t want to just get through my days. I want to love them. I want to relish my mornings, feel confident in my middays and be very happy during my evening times. -me, PZ

Didn’t exactly realize I felt that way about winter, but January so far has been dependably gray and chilly, so maybe it’s gotten under my skin. In any event, I like that the free write helped me wake up a little, and I also liked that Janisse Ray, the leader of the nature journaling session, asked us to draw alongside our written words. We sketched a tree, completed a contour drawing and even drew “winter.” Doing all that, I was delighted to realize how her drawing suggestions dovetailed neatly with the advice I’d gotten earlier from Sibley. Draw. I looked again at my “winter” scene—black scratches for bare tree limbs, trunks bent in the wind—and I’m not surprised I’ve had some downer days lately.

3.

Although no one ever says it directly, in school many of us got the impression that drawing was only for some. But now as adults, we know that’s not true. Drawing can be a lot of fun, and I believe it should only be considered a skill if you want to think of it seriously like that. I’ve decided to think of my drawing as a great excuse to sharpen some number 2’s, take out my colored pencils and get busy brightening a dull winter morning. I know that drawing birds won’t make me a birding expert, but I do think it can put me on the right path.

4.

When I’m considering some ideas, I like to know what the experts have to say. To that end, I found these two articles that provide researched-based information about the benefits of drawing and sketching.

Drawing could make you happier. The BBC article, “Why drawing is the perfect digital detox,” makes the point that drawing is therapeutic and improves well-being, especially when it is nature-focused. In the article, artist and author Robert Malbert is quoted as saying: “When drawing from nature, I find concentrated time sitting in a natural environment and drawing. . . is definitely mood enhancing."

With that in mind, I decided to only do one bird a day, first thing in the morning. Not all my sketching subjects come from my feeder. Sunday my friends and I went on a birding expedition. Far up on a tip-top branch, our expert pointed out a Cooper’s Hawk and shared the details (rounded tail, tall and thin frame) that distinguished it. I couldn’t get a good picture, but I can easily find photos online. Today, the subject for my daily drawing session is the Cooper’s Hawk.

Drawing could make you smarter by helping you learn. It’s long been known that drawing something helps you remember it. A study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH): “The Role of the Visual Arts in Enhancing the Learning Process,” takes this common knowledge further by recommending ways to blend the work of scientists and artists. The goal would be for the scientists to gain a deeper aesthetic sense and the artists to gain a deeper science literacy to move toward increased cross-disciplinary collaboration and more learning across all disciplines.

5.

You’ve heard the saying, she didn’t do herself any favors when she. . .? Well, today, it’s me.

“I didn’t do myself any favors letting that heavy bowl crack in a million pieces smack dab on top of my foot,” I told Fred last night as I sat in my easy chair adjusting the ice pack on my throbbing bruise.

“No, you didn’t,” he said. We rediscussed the fridge, and how I should not have stacked a jumbo thing of spinach over a heavy ceramic bowl full of soup, nor should I have tried to snatch out that bowl with little care in a way that would result in a glass-fracturing, soup-strewing crash on and around my blameless left foot, a foot only protected by a fuzzy sock.

Anyway, it happened, but I’m mostly fine. Thinking about it, I now realize that my draw-a-bird-a-day action IS doing myself a favor. I’ll try to keep that in mind this month, so these (rare, I hope) anti-favor moments don’t get all the attention.