Hand holding a small sketchbook showing a drawing of an oak titmouse on a branch with a calligraphy letter T to the upper right.

A hand holding a small sketchbook showing a drawing of a turkey vulture looking to the viewer's right and holding a severed human foot in its beak.

A hand holding a small sketchbook showing a drawing of an acorn woodpecker with an acorn in its beak, on the side of a tree that is way too small in comparison to the bird and looks like broccoli.

Almost forgot to post the final birds, so you're getting three at once. #MedievalMay days 29, 30 and 31 are titmouse, vulture, and woodpecker.

Thanks for following along with this challenge! It was fun and the first art challenge I've completed in full.

#Birds #BirdArt #MedievalBestiary #Medieval

A hand holding up a small sketchbook showing side by side ink and watercolor drawings of a barn swallow in flight in a gilded frame and a hermit thrush sitting on a trifecta of oak leaves and acorns.

#MedievalMay Days 27 & 28 - Swallow and thrush. The barn swallow and hermit thrush. Only three more birds to go!

#Birds #BirdArt #MedievalArt #MedievalBestiary

A hand holding up a small sketchbook to show an ink and watercolor drawing of a small blackish purple-ish bird with white dash markings across its feathers like stars. Its bill is bright yellow and its surrounded by a square filled in with metallic bronze watercolor. A stylized script letter S is above it to the left.

Starling - "A bird with stars on its feathers" (bestiary.ca) The European starling was introduced to North America in the 1890s by some people who were way too into Shakespeare.

#MedievalMay Day 26 #Birds #BirdArt #MedievalBestiary

A hand holding a small sketchbook showing a drawing of a raven in ink, with gothic type that says "raven" to the upper right of the bird.

"As the raven first pecks out the eyes, so the devil first destroys the ability to judge correctly, leaving the mind open to attack" (bestiary.ca). Referring to ravens plucking the eyes of corpses out to eat the brains.

#MedievalMay Day 25 #MedievalBestiary #Birds #BirdArt

A hand holding a small sketchbook so you can see the right hand page which has an ink line drawing of a female California quail, a small brown bird with white horizontal markings on its breast and sides and a protruding feather on its brow that sticks straight out. The bird is colored with brown watercolor. There's a capital letter Q to its upper right.

Q is for Quail for #MedievalMay day 24 (catching up again, I took the weekend off). This is a little lady California quail.

I might turn these into an alphabet zine when the month is over.

#Birds #BirdArt #MedievalBestiary

Close up of a hand holding a small sketchbook with a drawing of a small black, grey and white bird, the snowy plover. The bird is striding towards the right, walking over a squiggly line and some little pebbles that look like a sandy beach. All within a rectangle with a blue sky. There is a single disconnected line on the top and two sides of the rectangle. At the bottom in gothic typography is the word "plover"

Plover - "A bird that lives on nothing but air" (bestiary.ca)

#MedievalMay #Birds #BirdArt #MedievalArt #SnowyPlover

A hand holding up a small sketchbook horizontally so you can see a drawing of a ring-necked pheasant, a brightly colored brown and red bird with a blue head and red eye ring. Behind it are drawn some stylized grass and trees that look like wavy broccoli.

Today's bird is the pheasant. Phasianus colchicus, the ring-necked pheasant. A bird introduced to the U.S. from Asia in the 1880s.

Side note, I love the way trees are drawn in medieval manuscripts.

#MedievalMay #BirdArt #Birds #Pheasant #MedievalBestiary

A hand holding up a small sketchbook horizontally so you can see one page with an ink line drawing of a brown pelican, a large sea bird with a big bill, in flight, looking pretty funny with an extra long neck and wide eye. It's drawn partially inside a rectangle with the tips of its wings and feet breaking the border. The rectangle has a pattern of diamonds in it with dots in the center of each and is colored in turquoise.

Pelican - "A bird that revives its dead young with its own blood" (bestiary.ca). Hardcore!

Not convinced that a pelican in the middle ages was what we call a pelican today, as none of the birds under pelican remotely resemble pelicans.

Day 21 #MedievalMay #BirdArt #MedievalArt #Birds #BrownPelican

A hand holding a small sketchbook to show the left hand page with a stylized black ink drawing of a great horned owl, a bird with a round head and tufty ears and big yellow eyes. The bird is colored in watercolor and is inside a double walled rectangle, its feet extend below the bottom of the rectangle.

"The owl haunts ruins and flies only at night; preferring to live in darkness it hides from the light" (bestiary.ca)

Oof, there's a lot going on with owl symbolism in medieval Christianity and it's not pretty.

#MedievalMay #BirdArt #GreatHornedOwl #Birds #MedievalArt #Bestiary

A hand holding up a small sketchbook so you can see the right hand page. The left page of the sketchbook is cut off by the edge of the photo. On the page there is a drawing of an osprey diving down towards some wavy lines (water) and fish, its wings are tucked in and pointing back so they almost form a triangle behind the bird. Gothic script at the top says "osprey"

A drawing from a medieval manuscript showing an osprey diving straight down towards some wavy lines and fish meant to represent water. The osprey has one clawed foot and one webbed foot and its eye is very wide and round with a small pupil. It looks like it is just hurtling towards the water face first. Image is in the public domain, courtesy of the British LIbrary

"Some authorities say the osprey has one clawed foot for seizing prey, and one webbed foot for swimming" (bestiary.ca)

I recreated this masterpiece for you, but forgot to give it one webbed foot.

#MedievalMay #MedievalArt #Birds #BirdArt #Osprey #MedievalManuscripts

A hand holding a small sketchbook turned horizontally to show an ink and watercolor drawing of a small round bird with a big eye, surrounded by a blue background with gold dots and a black line border.

Nightjar - "A bird that sucks milk from the udders of goats" (bestiary.ca)

Also called goatsuckers, part of a very old misunderstanding (?) that they would drink goats milk directly from the goat. They actually eat insects.

#MedievalMay #BirdArt #Birds #CommonPoorwill #MedievalArt

A hand holding open a small sketchbook to show two side by side drawings in black ink of a type of falcon called a merlin. The left drawing is a merlin perched on a small ball, the right drawing is a merlin coming down to land with its wings out and feet outstretched in front of it.

Catching up again. Day 17 of #MedievalMay was Merlin.

I find the hardest ones to draw are where the depictions in medieval manuscripts deviate so much from what the actual bird looks like. It's hard to find a middle ground.

#BirdArt #Birds #MedievalArt #MedievalEurope #Merlin

A hand holding a small sketchbook open to an ink drawing of a yellow billed magpie which spans both pages. The bird is facing to the right and lifting one foot, with its head and beak lifted to the air. It is surrounded by a rectangular border. The bird is colored in watercolor and is mostly black and white with a yellow bill and swipe of yellow below the eye. The rectangle has a blue watercolor background with a pattern of clusters of three dots.

Magpie - "Magpies are like poets in that they have a voice which can express words with distinct sounds" (bestiary.ca)

The yellow-billed magpie is a stunning bird, endemic to California. I'm lucky to have seen them.

Yesterday day 16 of #MedievalMay

#MedievalArt #BirdArt #Birds #YellowbilledMagpie

Hand holding a small sketchbook horizontally so it forms one long page, with an ink brush pen drawing of a white tailed kite in flight with its wings pointing upwards and its feet and talons splayed out. The bird is colored lightly with watercolor and is bordered by a rectangle which is colored in red with watercolor. The word "kite" is written vertically in gothic lettering to the left.

Kite - "The kite represents those who delight in carnal pleasures, especially those of the stomach" (bestiary.ca).

The genus in the bestiary is Milvus, the red kite, which makes sense as it's a western European bird. White-tailed kites are genus Elanus.

#MedievalMay #MedievalArt #Birds #BirdArt

Hand holding a sketchbook showing the right hand page with an ink brush pen drawing of a belted kingfisher head and chest inside a rectangular border, the bird has a fish in its beak and in the background diagonally are some wavy water lines. Gothic lettering at the top of the page says "alcyon." the background of the photo are some river rocks and tall grasses from a top-down view.

Kingfisher - "A bird that calms sea storms" (bestiary.ca) The kingfishers shown seem mostly to be genus Halcyon, the woodland kingfishers. We don't have these in California so I chose from the genus Megaceryle.

M. alcyon the belted kingfisher.

#MedievalMay #MedievalArt #Birds #BirdArt

A hand holding open a small sketchbook to show two side by side ink brush pen drawings on opposite pages. Both drawings are in a medieval European manuscript art style, simplified lines and shapes in two dimensions. The left drawing is a great blue heron walking to the left inside a rectangle with wavy water lines over its feet and a pink half circle on the horizon. The right drawing is a California scrub jay facing right, inside a double ringed circle, with a small cross above it to the right.

Days 12 and 13 of #MedievalMay were heron and jay. The heron is "a bird wise above all others" and the jay is "a very noisy bird" per bestiary.ca and I can't argue with that.

#MedievalEuropeanArt #Birds #BirdArt #GreatBlueHeron #CaliforniaScrubJay

Hand holding open a small sketchbook showing two side by side ink brush pen drawings. The left drawing is a gull in a simplified art style with a wonky looking head and beak and an eyebrow so its face looks kind of human. It's surrounded by a rectangular border and there's a gothic letter G in the top right corner of that box. The drawing on the right is a small circle with a stylized hawk in flight, its wings breaking the boundaries of a small circle. Written below in gothic lettering is the word "hawk"

Days 10 and 11 of #MedievalMay were gull and hawk, quick drawings as I had a busy weekend. These are western gull and red-tailed hawk, but not recognizable without color.

#MedievalEuropeanArt #Birds #BirdArt #Gull #Hawk

I'm still drawing birds for my #MedievalMay I swear. Just haven't got around to posting them

Small sketchbook being held up to show an ink brush drawing on the right-hand page of three geese inside a circle on some grass with their heads turned. The goose on the right is facing left and breaking the circle with the top of its head, the goose on the left is facing left and breaking the circle with its beak and its feet. The goose in the middle is facing right and is set slightly back from the left goose. Below the circle in gothic scrip its says "anser" the genus for geese.

"Geese can smell the odor of man better than any other animal can ... The sense of smell of geese represents the wise man who knows of other men by their good or bad reputation. "

#MedievalMay Day 9 - Goose

#BirdArt #Birds #GreaterWhiteFrontedGoose #MedievalArt #SketchbookArt

A small sketchbook held up in front of a white wall. Only the righthand page is in the frame, showing a black ink brush pen drawing of a black phoebe, a songbird that looks like it's been dipped from its head to its tail in black, leaving the belly a dusty white. The bird is opening its mouth wide to catch little flies. There's a gothic letter f in the top right corner.

Flycatcher for my #MedievalMay day 8. Flycatchers catch flies with their very wide mouths, according to medieval bestiaries.

I'm exhausted today so this was the best I could do. It's a black phoebe. F for flycatcher.

#Birds #BirdArt #BlackPhoebe #MedievalArt

A hand holding up a small sketchbook to a stylized drawing of a golden eagle lifting its wings and looking at a sun with stylized wavy sun rays and a face that looks really burnt out, no pun intended.

Eagle - " A bird with eyes so strong it can look directly into the sun" (bestiary.ca).

Drawing a medieval style bird every day in May. It's #MedievalMay

#MedievalArt #BirdArt #Birds #GoldenEagle

Hand holding open a small sketchbook to a double page spread of a mallard duck drawn in medieval style, with an exaggerated curvy neck and exaggerated wide webbed feet. There is a stylized gothic letter D in the bottom left corner and stylized lettering "anas" in the top right which is the genus for dabbling ducks. In the background is the tops of tall grasses to the left and river rocks to the right, divided by a thin concrete wall.

#MedievalMay Day 6 - Duck

Pliny the Elder said ducks "lift themselves up into the air and with their whole bodies seek the sky" (bestiary.ca).

Here dabbling ducks have retained their latin name, Anas. My lettering alas has not improved.

#BirdArt #Birds #MallardDuck #MedievalArt

A hand holds open a small 3.5x5.5 inch sketchbook to show two drawings. The drawing on the left page is a black ink brush pen drawing of tree with squiggly branches and oval shapes at the end of the branches representing leaves. Little doves sit on the tops of these ovals. On the right page is a drawing of a mourning dove in black ink brush pen, its feet are oversized and so is its eye, with exaggerated feather lines and body shape to emulate the medieval art style.

Dove - The different colors of doves had various meanings associated with Christ and the Holy Spirit. "The song of the dove is mournful [...] When menaced by a dragon, doves will fly to a peridexion tree, where they are safe." (bestiary.ca)

#MedievalMay #Birds #BirdArt #MourningDove #MedievalArt

A hand holding up a small sketchbook with a medieval style drawing of a crow with a blank white eye, surrounded by concentric red line circles and a rectangle painted in light turquoise. There's a stylized C overlapping the rectangle on the top left corner.

Crow - "A long-lived bird that foretells the future" Unlike coots, the crow *will* eat dead bodies, specifically plucking out the eyes to get to the brain. Mmm. (Bestiary.ca)

Drawing a medieval bird every day in May.

#MedievalMay #Birds #BirdArt #AmericanCrow #MedievalArt

Hand holding up a small sketchbook, 5.5 inches tall, showing just the left page with a medieval style ink drawing of an American coot turning its head to the left. The coot is standing on some wavy water lines and is surrounded by a box, but its tail feathers break the boundary of the box. Hand lettered gothic type at the top says "coot"

Coot - "An intelligent bird that stays in one place [...] It eats fish, but does not eat dead bodies." (bestiary.ca) So smart!

Coots are shown turning to bite their wing a lot, I wonder if this shows grooming behavior or is symbolic.

#MedievalMay #AmericanCoot #BirdArt #Birds #MedievalArt

It's a fantastic project by @rippleinthewild.bsky.social, isn't it! More motivation for your #MedievalMay...

Hand holding a 3.5x5.5inch sketchbook up in front of a metal paneled wall. The sketchbook has two medieval style drawings of Brewer's blackbirds, one in a house shaped cage and one surrounded by a pattern of clusters of 3 dots.

#MedievalMay day 2 is blackbird - "an agreeable bird that sings in April and May[...] often shown in a cage [...] often depicted as a nondescript black or brown bird perched on the ground." (bestiary.ca)

#BirdArt #Birds #BrewersBlackbird #MedievalArt

A hand holding up a 3.5x5.5 inch sketchbook turned horizontally so you can see the right hand page which has a medieval style ink and watercolor illustration of a bird, an American bittern, wading through reeds with trees in the background.

Self indulgent art challenge: I'm drawing a medieval style bird every day in May. Only birds found in California, from species on bestiary.ca

Tracking with #MedievalMay

Day 1 - Bittern - "a bird that puts its beak in the water or into reeds and makes a booming noise"

#BirdArt #Birds #MedievalArt