Found that I was erasing too much and was confused with the overlapping of the feathers! I used dividers for measuring, maybe trying to be too precise.

Ok I realized my bird's body was crooked.   Here's my second try....oooffff.

Harder to draw than I ever could of imagined.   Really struggled.

This one was more difficult than the cardinal drawing.  My eyes got a little crossed with the overlapping feathers, trying to read which line was for which feather. And you can see where I numbered the visible feathers to ensure I got the correct amount.

This one I did in colored pencil a while back

The drawing is completed. I could fuss over it some more, but I said no, stop. I should have taken a picture of my first lines so I could see the difference. Now the scary part start. PAINT!  

Well I was quite satisfied with this effort until... Like others below I have never done a drawing in such detail and really appreciated all the guidance. Doing the feathers I actually found it easier to roughly draw in the ones near the bottom tip that are not so clearly seen then the tips of the feathers before joining them to the body. Otherwise I continually ended up with the wrong number. Then, at the end I put it over the reference and discovered that the body was far too long and the top wing in the wrong place. So back to the drawing board and I'll use Jane's for the painting.

I think I drew my bird a bit too small, but overall I think it's proportion wise.

I received this class as a birthday gift I was elated I love birds. I live in Mexico Celestun Yucatan, I read and listen to Jane as she explained the process of Painting Birds, I'm a self taught Artist been painting for most of my life. When I returned to the US for a visit I bought all the supplies that were needed. I do watercolor, gauche and colored pencils. This is my first time using the medium liquid acrylic. I really learned a lot from doing the drawing for birds. I practice and drew other birds that I want to do Chickadee, humming birds, MotMots and by doing this it increased the drawing skills and really identify the different parts of birds quit frankly I will never look at birds the same way. The wings were a challenge but I kept trying I drew the barn swallow three different  times before I settled on this.

Feather overlap was brutal!  I'm surprised of how well I've done with it anyway.

The overlapping feathers are a challenge. Having fun & like the class!

I struggled with the feather overlap.  Needs more work but enjoying the class.  So much to learn.