
Woodchuck. Watercolor, pencil and ink. Scientifically known as the marmot monax, the groundhog or the woodchuck in local terms is one of the 14 species of marmots. A marmot on the other hand, is a term used to refer to a group of large squirrels which is almost always found on the ground. Woodchucks are said to be the largest group belonging to the family of squirrels. Although they are said to be ground animals, they also have the ability to climb small trees.
They are good swimmers much like their relative – the beaver.

Gerbil family. Watercolor, pencil and ink. Gerbils, although nocturnal actually go through several cycles of activity each night. Gerbils need a nest box to feel secure."Thumping" is an interesting gerbil behavior. The gerbil will pound both hind legs on the ground when he is excited or stressed. Young gerbils tend to thump even when not stressed. If you have multiple gerbils, they will all join in on thumping behavior.

Green bottle fly. Gouache and ink on watercolor paper. For the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. The name of the bottle fly derives from the shiny, metallic appearance of the fly. Flies have over 4,000 facets for sight in each eye. Flies are attracted by movement more than color. Flies have a smelling distance of over 750 yards. Yuck!

Sunlit wolf. Watercolor and pencil. Immense power is concentrated in a wolf’s jaw. It has a crushing pressure of nearly 1,500 pounds per square inch (compared with around 750 for a large dog). A hungry wolf can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal, which is akin to a human eating one hundred hamburgers. The North American gray wolf population in 1600 was 2 million. Today the population in North America is approximately 65,000.

Rabbit. Watercolor, pencil and ink.
During warmer seasons, rabbits will eat weeds, grasses, clover, wildflowers, and flower and vegetable plants. When the weather turns cold, rabbits will munch on twigs, buds, bark, conifer needles, and any remaining green plants. When being chased, rabbits will run in zigzag formations to confuse, rather than outrun, their predators.

Nesting seabirds. Watercolor and pencil. Illustration for interpretive panels at Coquille Point-- Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. From the panel: "Common murres crowd together by the thousands, while pigeon guillemots nest further apart in cavities. Colonies tend to be larger when food is abundant. Puffins, storm-petrels, and auklets use their beaks and feet to dig burrows in grassy slopes. Pigeon guillemots prefer rock crevices or holes. Brandt’s cormorants build nests of grass and seaweed on flat or gently sloping ledges, while pelagic cormorants build seaweed nests—glued together with guano— on narrow ledges."

Sandhill Crane. Watercolor and pencil. Cranes are among the oldest living birds on the planet. For the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge in North Texas. National Park Service. Did you ever wonder how cranes stay warm while standing for hours in near-freezing water? They can reduce the amount of blood that has to be warmed by constricting blood vessels in their feet.

Roadrunner for a day/night scene at Clark County Wetlands Park Nature Center in Las Vegas Nevada. Watercolor and pencil. Roadrunners are also called earth-cuckoos, chaparral cocks, snake killers and ground cuckoos. While they are generally solitary birds or are found in pairs, a flock of roadrunners can be called a marathon or race. Go figure.

Fish Springs. Watercolor and pencil. Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge is at the southern end of the Great Salt Lake Desert, part of the Great Basin in Juab County, Utah. The Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. As an oasis in the Great Basin Desert in western Utah, Fish Springs serves a variety of species including fish, migratory birds, deer, coyotes, pronghorn, cougars and other native species.

Sketchbook rendering of a Sea Cucumber for the Oregon Zoo. Watercolor and pencil. 6" x 6".
Sea cucumbers do not have a brain. Their senses are also poorly developed. They breathe via their anus. They are able to modulate the shape of their body when needed so they can pass through tight spaces. In other words, they could become great politicians.

Harbor seals. Watercolor and pencil. Illustration for interpretive panels at Coquille Point-- Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. From the panel: "Harbor seals may be seen at haul-out sites with other sea mammals, such as Steller’s and California sea lions. Harbor seals are small with spotted gray fur. Unlike sea lions, harbor seals are “true seals”; they have stout, round bodies, no external ear flaps, and cannot rotate their flippers under their bodies."

Sketchbook rendering of a Kelp Crab for the Oregon Zoo. Watercolor and pencil. 6" x 6". Kelp crabs, as their name implies, are typically associated with species of kelp, and they are colored much like them. They are also common, especially younger individuals, in the low intertidal in beds of other algae and eelgrass.

Pacific Gray Whales. Watercolor and pencil. Illustration for interpretive panels at Coquille Point-- Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. From the panel: "North Pacific gray whales migrate between summer
feeding grounds in the arctic to winter breeding areas
in Baja. Whaling almost wiped out gray whales and by
1970 the species was endangered. Soon after, Mexico
began protecting calving grounds and whaling was
banned. The gray whale recovered and was removed
from the endangered species list in 1994."

Field note sketchbook rendering of an Ochre Sea Star for species identifier panels at the Oregon Zoo. Watercolor and pencil. 6" x 6". Ochre Sea Stars are relatively large sea stars, with five arms and a rough surface. Most of them are either orange (ochre) or purple, quite a dramatic difference, and there is still no good way to explain this.

Sketchbook rendering of a China Rockfish for the Oregon Zoo. Watercolor and pencil. 6" x 6". One of dozens of species identifiers for the Oregon Zoo's Stellar Cove Tide Pool exhibit. The China rockfish has a distinctive appearance, with a dark blue or black body crossed by a patchy but obvious yellow stripe and may be covered with small whitish or yellowish spots. Adults are solitary and territorial, preferring rocky outcrops with boulder fields and crevices.

Sketchbook rendering of a Red Irish Lord for the Oregon Zoo. Watercolor and pencil. 6" x 6". The Red Irish Lord usually lives close to rocky shores but can survive at depths as low as 450 meters. Adults feed on mussels, crabs, and barnacles. They are not harmful to humans, with the possible exception of injuring oneself on their various barbs and spines while handling one barehanded.

Carpenter ant. Gouache and ink on watercolor paper. For the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Carpenter ants are neat-freaks. Very hygienic, carpenter ants remove all deteriorated foods and deceased ants from their nests. They even create their own disinfectant. Now don't you feel bad for stepping on them?

Cockroach. Gouache. No, a cockroach cannot survive a nuclear blast. This is one of the most common myths to be quoted as a fact. The truth is that a cockroach can withstand 10 times more radiation than a person, but they would not survive a nuclear event. However, there are much easier ways of getting rid of them.
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