RED-BREASTED GOOSE
A WATERCOLOUR PAINTING
By Barry Kent MacKay
ARTIST'S QUOTE:
"The appearance of birds is of special fascination to me, and the Red-breasted Goose is outstanding in that regard. Although it is a northern bird, it is coloured more like a tropical songbird. Both the colouring (that chesnut colour in particular) and the bold patterning are simply unlike any other goose (other than the pygmy-geese, which are not "true" geese in their own right, and are, at any rate, tropical).
Red-breasted geese breed over more than a million square kilometres in the Russian Arctic, mostly on the Taimyr Peninsula, and winter in temperate regions around the Black Sea in Romania, Bulgaria and the Ukraine. They are best known for their habit of nesting in close proximity to birds of prey, such as Peregrines, Buzzards, and Snowy Owls. The birds of prey drive off foxes and skuas, while the geese provide an early warning system in return. In this way, up to 10 pairs of Red-breasts can nest around one Peregrine eyrie.
Red-breasted geese are recognized as globally threatened.
Barry has also contributed these paintings to our website:
Thank you, Barry!