A penguin, a hummingbird, a nest, and two doves

My son loves penguins, and said I needed a penguin in this bird collection, so here it is. I gave him a different background than the zoo where the picture was made. 

I believe this nest was made by a house wren. It was build into some outdoor curtains. House wrens will start building just about anywhere. As time went by the nest sagged more and more. The eggs did hatch, but I am not sure if the birds lived. They were gone one day. The nest was just too open and exposed not to be noticed by predators. 

I have a birdhouse that lost its hanger, so I just set it on the deck next to our kitchen window. It did not take long for 2 house wrens to find it. Every once in a while they serenade us. When the window is open it is like they are singing inside. It was so funny to watch them start building! You would think a twig like this would not go through that small hole in the birdhouse, but they are persistent and get it in there after a few tries. So after seeing this I wanted to paint another wren.

These mourning dove babies sat in a nest under the roof overhang of my parents' shed. They just sat there the whole week I was there, watching everybody come and go. My dad said they are back this year and had another two babies. It does answer the question of why you never see baby pigeons. I guess they like to stay at mom and pops for a long time and being tended to.

The reference picture for this hummingbird was made by Petra Glorie. She makes beautiful bird pictures while attending bird banding sessions. Birds are caught, banded, and released. Besides painting the hummingbird, this was good practice in skin colors!

I'm now in the home stretch of these 50 bird paintings! Down into the single digits. Yeah, getting there! It's a good feeling to see them all together. They are looking good.