“I would like to paint the way a bird sings…”
Claude Monet
The history of colonies is a red hot topic at the moment. Here is my two cents worth. The Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) is a large seabird of the booby family. The largest Australian mainland colony is pictured here. It is at Point Danger a stones throw from the docks of Portland in Victoria. The birds seem to be oblivious to the adjacent human activity. The first Europeans encountered by these birds were the sailors of Cook’s Endeavour voyage. Sir Joseph Banks was reported to have shot the first three he saw for a goose pie. Daniel Solander, the ships artist, described, painted and named them. He actually called them sectator, but the handwriting in his journals was misread after his death. Zoom up close on this photo and you might be able to discern a black and white mottled juvenile bird. If you are really clever you might be able to spot the single Cape gannet from South Africa, with its more prominent eye masking. #penpaintscapelandbird #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 