Scary, eerie, but not leery

Turkey Vulture drawing by Trudy Smoke

I know they are weird looking, even scary and eerie, but I am fascinated by turkey vultures, Cathartes aura.  My fascination came from drawing them, reading about them, and then seeing a “venue” (yes, a group of them is called a venue or a volt) of them sitting on an electric line upstate. And when they flew off and became a “kettle” of soaring vultures, I was enthralled.  Here are just a few of the amazing things about turkey vultures: They have no voicebox, so they can’t sing or call but instead hiss and grunt.  They have 6’ wing spans and look like eagles when they fly, but their bills and feet aren’t designed to kill.  They eat what is already dead—they are nature’s clean-up system.  Their heads are entirely bald so they can poke deep into the carrion and the dead flesh won’t stick to any feathers.  If you are wondering how they find their meals, they have a remarkable olfactory sense; they can locate the smell of decaying meat miles off and they circle until they find the dead creature.  When I first looked at them, I said “who could love this ugly thing?”and then I started to draw one. And that was it--I was hooked.  

The Gull

Herring Gull Drawing by Trudy Smoke

While I sat on the beach in East Hampton, a handsome Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, flew close by and stopped about two feet in front of me.  The gull glanced toward me and maybe hoped for food, but when none was forthcoming stayed put, seemingly without a care in the world.  I stared at his form and thought about the careful looking that went into drawing this bird for the Field Guide: the hooked beak, the webbed feet, the spots on the tail, the yellow eyes, the way the feathers fold into each other to form the wings.  I am in awe looking at the real thing and thinking about the page and the process.    

Who's a Lady?

Painted Lady Drawing by Trudy Smoke - Dorsal View

I read that the Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world and the most common in North America.  Part of the reason for this is that during its migratory season, which is a long time, the butterflies mate all the time, and the male is polygynous, mating with many females.  The male is known to patrol and perch, and as soon as he observes a Painted Lady, he pursues her.  If she turns out to be a he, he chases away the other male and waits for the female again.  Females produce lots of eggs, especially if there has been a fair amount of rainfall, so soon there are lots of new butterflies.  As I drew this Painted Lady and struggled with its beautiful markings, I wondered if part of the reason for the polygynous behavior was that the male wants to make it clear that he’s no lady. 

Bottoms Up?

Painted Lady - Dorsal View

Painted Lady - Ventral View 

I get very confused with ventral and dorsal when it comes to butterflies.  Generally speaking, dorsal is in the back, like the spinal column, and ventral is in the front, like the navel.  Dolphins have dorsal fins.  It all seems simple, but butterflies are routinely described as “Dorsal (Topside or Backside) View” and “Ventral (Bottom or Underside) View.”  I think this is because butterflies land with their wings closed, so what we usually see is the Ventral or Underside view.  In fact, one difference between most moths and most butterflies is that moths land with their wings open and butterflies with their wings closed.  For many butterflies, like the Monarch, the closed wings, the ventral view, looks similar to the dorsal view, but not for all.  The Eastern comma, (post below) for example, has two very different appearances on both sides of its wings.  The Painted Lady (pictured here), the Question Mark, and the Variegated Fritillary are butterflies that look different on the topside or backside--the dorsal side, and on the bottom or underside--the ventral side.  So when it comes to what we call the beauty of butterflies, I guess it's "Bottoms up." 

Why a comma?

Eastern Comma - Dorsal View

Eastern Comma- Ventral View

Why a comma I wondered?  Names do matter and it seemed an odd one until I turned my little butterfly over.  One of the most interesting things about butterflies is the difference in the appearance of the frontside and the backside.  So when I unpinned my butterfly, I looked at both sides.  On the side that is visible when the wings are held open, the dorsal side, I saw the colorful Eastern Comma.  When I turned it over to see the the side you see when the wings are held closed over the body, the ventral side, I was happily surprised.  As you can see the ventral side is brownish and leaf-like, surely to help for camouflage, and there they were on the two lower  or hindwings—tiny commas, slightly silvery in appearance.  Like all commas, they made me pause.