Procnias tricarunculatus / Cotingidae
Graphite on Paper
Paper Size: 9" x 12"
Mat Size: 14" x 18"
Jane's Notes: The Three-wattled Bellbird's call is bonkers. As in, it's a literal BONK! Bird song is such a defining behavior but painting it's presents a conceptual challenge. How do you make the audible, visual? How do you paint birdsong? Simply composing a bird with an open beak doesn't do the trick. The Three-waddled Bellbird has one of the loudest calls in the class Aves, a "bonk" that can be heard for half a mile. I've never seen it in the wild so I took my artistic cues from the famed bird painter Don R. Eckelberry:
"In singing stance the body is not very upright nor is the head thrust back. But the lower mandible at maximum gape is opened so wide that it looks positively unhinged, and it nearly touches the breast. With the bill fully open, the bird emits a loud froglike croak or grunt, which is quite rasping at close range. The bill remains wide open for perhaps two seconds whereupon a shorter gulping sound, less loud and with less resonance and carrying power, is delivered and the bill is closed. During the performance the bird looks like it is gagging. Neither of the two notes sound in the least like a bell."
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