Here’s a little exercise for you: see if you can draw a male Northern Cardinal entirely from memory. Now, how many times have you seen this bird? Hundreds of times? Thousands? So don’t go peeking at any field guides or out the window at your feeder! To those who complain, “I can’t draw a straight line,” I answer, “There are no straight lines in nature” (heh, heh). Now, this doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. If it winds up looking vaguely like your neighbor’s cat (or your neighbor) that’s fine—who’s going to know? Besides, you can make written notes to complement your sketch, covering features you cannot capture precisely enough to suit your eye.
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