Least Grebe, Oaxaca

acrylic on masonite

In 2016 Tina and I travelled to Oaxaca and Chiapas, on a birding and culinary tour. This region has an extremely high degree of what us birders call ‘endemism’ – bird species that exist nowhere else on Earth. The same climatic and geographic factors that account for this speciation, also contribute to the unique culinary history of Oaxaca, for this was the place that teosintle was cultivated and domesticated into corn, some 8000 years ago. We saw close to 300 species of some of the most colorful birds I’ve ever seen, including Buntings, Tanagers, and Hummingbirds. However, the image that stayed with me the most was this plain looking Least Grebe, paddling alone across a pond. The ripples made by the bird created a wonderful abstract design of green and blue, and the bow wave ahead of it radiated wonderful ribbons of varying tones of green. The bird itself was an interesting challenge, because Least Grebes have feathers that look more like fur, and are extremely water repellent. I liked how the drabness of the bird didn’t take anything away from the pattern in the water.