This is just a short post with another drawing, a female tufted duck. As often happens with birds, the males are much more spectactular and the females aren’t. I was tempted to write just brown, there but that would be doing her a great disservice. I can honestly say it took me longer to do her feathers than any other bird that I’ve done.  She is a stunner and deserves all the attention she gets. Her male counterpart is black and white with a rather rakish little tuft at the back of the head, giving them their name. She is warm and competent with rich layers of colour that are secreted under that ‘only brown’ exterior. Don’t mess with this lady, she is complex, layered and can swim underwater.