20" (1920px) x 11.25" (1080px)
PaintTool SAI Ver.2 with custom brushes.
Warm color dominance, textured brushes for rough look. Egyptian vulture uses rocks to break eggs.
This drawing shows an Egyptian Vulture with a rock and eggs. Eggs are a common food source for these birds and they have a creative way of getting them open--they use rocks. Egyptian Vultures may hit a rock against the egg or throw one at it to break it open.
18" x 12"
Watercolor paint, Sharpie marker, gel pen, and watercolor paper.
Light colors and detailed lines for peaceful look, gel pen for highlights. Green heron bait fishes.
This watercolor painting is of a green heron. This species of heron attracts its prey (fish and sometimes frogs) with bait. This bait can be insects, bread, other scraps of food, or even shiny non-food objects. After leaving the bait in the water, the heron waits for its prey to come to the surface, where it will grab and eat it.
11.25" (1080px) x 20" (1920px)
PaintTool SAI Ver.2 with custom brushes.
Firelight to contrast dark colors, textured brushes for watercolor look. Black kite fire-forages.
The subject of this painting is a black kite, one of few species of birds that have been seen to practice "fire-foraging." Black kites, as well as whistling kites and brown falcons, may carry burning sticks in order to spread fire for the purpose of finding food.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, scissors, and glue.
Dry brushed for texture, synthesized feathers. Woodpecker finch drives out insects.
The bird shown in this painting is a woodpecker finch. These birds are well-known for using cactus spines to drive out, impale, or gain access to insects. Not only do these birds use these spines, they may also break or shape them differently in order to make them more effective tools.
12" x 18"
Acrylic paint, gel pen, acrylic paper, scissors, and glue.
Dry brushed for texture, simple colorful background, synthesized feathers. Palm cockatoo drums.
This painting is of a palm cockatoo. This particular species of cockatoo displays tool use by using large sticks, seed pods, or other items to drum against hollow trees. This drumming sound can be heard from large distances. It is unknown why these birds drum; however, there are several guesses. This behavior may be to attract mates, test the durability of potential nesting sites, or mark territory.
8.3̅" (1152px) x 11.1̅" (1536px)
PaintTool SAI Ver.2 with custom brushes.
Warm color dominance, textured brushes, synthesized feathers. Tailorbird sews together leaf nest.
Tailorbirds such as the one shown in this drawing get their name from their unique nest-building behavior. These warblers sew together large leaves with plant fibers and/or spider webs to build their nests inside of.
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16.6̅" (1600px) x 12.5" (1200px)
PaintTool SAI Ver.2 with custom brushes.
Cool color dominance, textured brushes, synthesized feathers. Gull breaks mussel by dropping it.
This drawing depicts a common gull holding a mussel in its beak. Gulls, along with some other birds, will drop their hard-shelled prey from large heights while flying to crack them open.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Dry brushed, simple yellow background contrast, synthesized feathers. Ravens collect shiny objects.
This painting is of two common ravens, one of which is holding a ring. Corvids like these have a liking for interesting objects—usually just trash—and will collect them because they like them or want to impress other ravens. They may collect shiny objects, pebbles, pieces of metal, plastic, or other items.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Dry brushed, colorful background, synthesized feathers. Vasa parrot grinds seashell with rocks.
This painting depicts a greater vasa parrot—a species native to Madagascar that gets some of the calcium they need from seashells. These parrots display tool use by using rocks to grind down or break the seashells into pieces.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Cool color dominance, dry brushed for texture, synthesized feathers. Blue jay displays anting.
This painting is of a blue jay shown with several ants. Some birds, including blue jays, corvids, robins, songbirds, and passerines display a behavior called "anting," in which they rub ants or other insects on their feathers. It is unknown exactly why these birds do this, but some hypotheses include grooming, stimulating the growth of feathers, or killing parasites.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Triadic colors, dry brushed for texture, synthesized feathers. Magpie recognizes self in mirror.
A Eurasian magpie (also known as the common magpie) is the subject of this painting. These birds are known to have shown the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors through tests, an ability only few animals have been proven to have. Interestingly, these magpies and pigeons have both passed the mirror test, while some other birds commonly known for their high intelligence (i.e. grey parrots) have failed.
18" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Warm color dominance, cool color contrast, synthesized feathers. Bee eater displays theory of mind.
The subjects of this painting are a swallow-tailed bee-eater and its predator, a martial eagle. Bee-eaters have been shown to exhibit the theory of mind: the ability to understand a situation from another individual's point of view and act accordingly. Bee-eaters intentionally avoid being near their nests while predators are nearby so that their locations are kept secret.
24" x 18"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure feathers, and glue.
Triadic colors, dry brushed, synthesized feathers. Pigeon differentiates between abstract concepts.
Pigeons, like the one shown in this image, have been tested to reveal that they are able to understand abstract concepts like art styles. Pigeons were consistently able to recognize the difference between paintings by Picasso and Monet, even when color was removed.
9" x 12"
Acrylic paint, acrylic paper, conure, conure feathers, and glue. Synthesis with feathers.
Warm color dominance, dry brushed, synthesized feathers. My conure uses molted feather as a tool.
The subject of this painting is my own pineapple green-cheeked conure, Sunny. She, along with the rest of her species, displays tool use by using objects such as pieces of cardboard, toys, and her own tail feathers to scratch her head with.
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