"Gene" The Augur Buzzard, KBOP Trust, Naivasha
Watercolor, 22″ x 30″, on Arches rough 300lb SOLD
(Giclée signed and numbered, limited edition prints and poster prints available)
The Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur)
About Augurs
The Augur is a “Chunky buzzard with a reddish tail. The color of the underparts varies: they are normally white, but can be completely black. Immature is brown on the back and pale below. Found in hilly and mountainous terrain, in a wide variety of habits including semi-desert, savanna, woodland, grassland, heath, and tree plantations. Call is a short, emphatic yelp. Distinctive across most of its range, but can be confused with Jackal Buzzard in the small area of overlap. Separated there by the pale underwing.”
Augurs in Naivasha
Gene is an augur buzzard rescued by Shiv Kapila with the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, in Naivasha. While somewhat shy, he is less reclusive than his cousin and neighbor, the Black Goshawk. He poses with austere dignity on a branch in his spacious enclosure, calmly awaiting his impending release.
Range Map of the Augur Buzzard
About the painting:
I created this painting while vacationing at Diana Beach on the coast of Kenya (I traveled with my paints, paper and 3ft x 2ft lightbox!), using reference photos I took while visiting the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust in Naivasha, a few months earlier. I was captivated by Gene’s stoic poise and piercing gaze and loved his chic black and white ermine-style plumage. As usual I composited several photos to get the right pose and transferred outlines to paper, which I taped to my lightbox. I was happy with the deliberate blooms and the rich ochre coloring of the background panel, which I think offsets his minimalist plumage colors and beautiful patterning quite well. The whole work was done with a combination of wet on wet, wet on dry and glazing, with detailed over-painting restricted to the eyes and beak.
You can see a step-by-step process slideshow in my CREATIVE PROCESS section.