Presenting the 2013 ABA Bird of the Year Art by Andrew Guttenberg

After Robert Mortensen's goofy, fun, 2013 Bird of the Year introduction yesterday, we'd like to present the lovely paintings that Andrew Guttenberg did for use in the Bird of the Year program. Above is the portrait that will grace the coming issue of Birding.

Below is the head study Andrew did on which we based the Bird of the Year stickers.

I'll end with a shot of Andrew and me taken just a couple of days ago in Bozeman, Montana, where Andrew lives and attends Montana State University. We had a really fun conversation about these paintings, Common Nighthawks in general, and Andrew's development and plans as a bird artist. Look for that interview here soon. 

Thanks, Andrew, for helping us honor the Common Nighthawk in style!

Comments

[Amar Ayyash]

Very nice painting, Andrew. I love that you've included RR tracks. My lifer Common Nighthawk was in a little rural town in southern Illinois in mid-June. I had been asking about this species all day and the birders I was with kept promising one before sundown. Sure enough, we were waiting for a freight train to pass and just as it did, I heard "peent". Bingo! Nothing like finding your own lifer...

[John Habig]

Andrew's painting takes me back to seeing my first Common Nighthawks. Some 45 years ago I was playing kick the can with the other kids in the neighborhood one evening when I heard a peenting sound overhead. Looking up I saw three, then five and finally eight flying overhead in their zig zagging flight. Needless to say the delay made me loose the game but I did pick up a memory I think of everytime I see my first nighthawk of the year. Back then it was not unusual to see nighthawks every summer evening in my area in SW Ohio. The local high school was just down the road and it had one of those tar and gravel roofs common back then. I suppose now that the nighthawks nested there.

Whenever I see a Common Nighthawk now it still takes me back to those care free days of my youth. I just wish the nighthawks had a more care free life. Thank you ABA for drawing attention to the plight of the Common Nighthawk. I hope many more generations of young birders get a chance to enjoy this bird.