Screenshot of a page from the ebook of The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan.
The page starts with a drawing of a green bird on a branch, labeled “Anna's Hummingbird (female)”.
Under the image, text reads:
“Like most kids, I enjoyed drawing and I laid down enough "pencil miles" (a fun phrase I just learned in this book) to develop some skills at a young age. So by the time my own bird obsession started to take hold, drawing was a natural part of that. I consider drawing mostly a brain exercise. The hand that controls the pencil to make lines on paper is a small part of the whole process. You can learn how to draw, and then drawing anything becomes easier, but drawing is really a different way of seeing, converting something from three dimensions in the real world to lines on a two-dimensional sheet of paper.”
From the book’s forward, written by ornithologist David Allen Sibley.
Screenshot of a page from the ebook of The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan.
The text reads: “Drawing something, like birds, actually depends more on your knowledge of the subject than on your drawing ability. And it is a deep and intangible sort of knowledge.
Imagine your very wise birding mentor saying, "Yes, it is black with a yellow head... but do you really know what that bird looks like?" Drawing requires you to absorb details and then to combine them into a simplified and unified whole. Watching birds for countless hours is the way to get to know them, and drawing is the test to demonstrate that knowledge. The drawing is, in a way, like discovering the birds anew, as they appear on your paper. It usually means testing lines and shapes, erasing, adding a curve, sharpening or softening an edge, working to find the details that re-create the essence of the bird in a drawing. And when that happens it feels like a small kernel of truth has been revealed.”
From the forward of the book, written by ornithologist David Allen Sibley.
I started reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan & found myself impressed by this take on drawing in the forward by David Allen Sibley.
I draw fossils (often poorly) to get to know the details of the bone fragment, so I agree that “drawing is really a different way of seeing”.
![Screenshot from the Purdue OWL APA 7 citation page on Reference List: Author/Authors (link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html).
Text reads:
[Section Title] Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year
[Section Text] If you are using more than one reference by the same author—or the same group of authors listed in the same order—published in the same year, first check to see if they have more specific dates ([noted in red font] this recommendation is new to APA 7). Works with only a year should be listed before those with a more specific date. List specific dates chronologically. If two works have the same publication date, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. If references with the same date are identified as parts of a series (e.g. Part 1 and Part 2), list them in order of their place in the series. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your reference list, e.g.: "Berndt (2004a) makes similar claims..."
Berndt, T. J. (2004a). Children’s friendships: Shifts over a half-century in perspectives on their development and their effects. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 50(3), 206-223.
Berndt, T. J. (2004b). Friendship and three A’s (aggression, adjustment, and attachment). Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88(1), 1-4.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yg6xozhuldz7vprypbt2cavp/bafkreihpllpn5ywf7hmznwme3zlhsza3ehibi4fqhyk5hgl7gxz24tfdvy)