Ink on paper

Signed on the front.

Created for an Inktober challenge focusing on our migratory shorebirds, these sketches feature some of the birds which travel to our shores to overwinter, before returning on the long journey to their Arctic breeding grounds.
Clockwise from top (in the main image) the prompts for these were; red-necked stint in breeding plumage, whimbrel, mosquitoes and climate change, tundra habitat and camouflaged eggs.

The challenge was a rich learning experience for me. Among other things, i learned that every year, thousands of shorebirds migrate from Australia and New Zealand to their breeding grounds above the arctic circle. With nests that are little more than a scrape in the ground, their eggs and young could easily fall victim to predators such as the arctic fox. The speckled eggs are hard to see among the stones and mosses of the tundra, as are the chicks when they hatch, increasing the chances of survival.
Migratory birds time their arrival in arctic regions for the breeding season to coincide with insects being at their most abundant. These bugs provide vital nutrition for the hatchlings, like the little whimbrel chick in my artwork. As global warming affects the polar regions, insects are emerging earlier. Some shorebirds are adapting by arriving earlier in the season; others lay their eggs sooner to maximise the time their hatchlings can benefit from heightened insect numbers.
The red necked stint, the smallest of the shorebirds to visit our coasts, and the whimbrel, which prefers mangrove swamps, were just two of the species I became acquainted with.
More of the drawings from this project can be seen on my Instagram page at amarias_artwork .
This set of four was chosen because of the common aesthetic and the shared story of eggs, chicks and migration.