Back in March, Rob and I spent a lovely afternoon walking along the manicured trails of the Oatland Island Wildlife Center.

The second feature along the trail was an area where two Sandhill Cranes reside. I didn’t want to leave!

They walked over from the far side of their area to right below the bridge we stood on. A few more people came a long and the cranes let out a sound that made all of us jump!  Goodness, they are loud!

I sketched and painted for a bit then we made our way to see the Bobcat….. very well hidden.

On to the Red Foxes.  Yes! From there we walked to the Birds of Prey area. By then. the no-seeums were having they’re way with us!

We saw the Center’s herd of White-tailed Deer and then moved on to see the pack of Gray Wolves.

You can observe the wolves from a bridge that overlooks their area or you can go into a building with one-way glass. Both vantage points were exciting as it was feeding time.  Nothing like seeing the pecking order of a wolf pack first hand.

Our last stop… the American Bison.  Wow! Pappa is one big dude!!

We were on our way back to the parking lot and I just couldn’t stand it… I had to go back to see the cranes again 🙂

So, a few more crane sketches to surround the Bison 🙂

I’ve been hoping to finish these pages with color using the reference photographs we took… hopefully soon.  Then I’ll add some more words. The crane page is begging for a calligraphic touch 🙂

What a great place to practice fast sketching! I can’t wait to go back 🙂