Red Bishop-White Queen
Beverly McKay
Artwork for ‘Birds‘ (Issue 26)
The Science
Lion’s ear plants (Leonotis nepetifolia) and Southern Red Bishop birds (Euplectes orix) live in Uganda. These red and black, omnivorous birds live in colonies near swamps where their presence makes them a good indicator of the biodiversity and health of the wetlands. Signs of predators cause them to call out and fly away with rapid bumblebee-sounding wingbeats. The Red Bishop name leads one to think of chess, and how that game is similar to ecology. Here the board is the spatially limited landscape, the chess pieces are the interdependent life forms, and all their possible interactions are the game.
https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Leonotis+nepetifolia
https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/southern-red-bishop/
https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/2-minute-science/definition-ecology
The Medium
“Red Bishop-White Queen” was digitally created with my safari photos of the lioness, birds, and Lion’s ear flowers from Uganda by using Adobe Photoshop Elements. In photoshop, I particularly like using the “overlay” function as it can really integrate two or more photos.This is followed by resizing, tweaking the contrast and general polishing up the result. In printed form it would suit 18 cm x 25 cm.
The Artist
Beverly McKay is a Canadian freelance science illustrator with a particular interest in natural environments and their inhabitants - both plant and animal. Previously residing in the UK, Lesotho, and the United Arab Emirates, she now lives and works in Halifax, Canada. She primarily works with watercolour, ink, photography, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. More examples of her illustration work can be found on LinkedIn and Flickr.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverly-mckay-5568881a/recent-activity/all/
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license