Pearl
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pearlbarry.bsky.social
Pearl
@pearlbarry.bsky.social
120 followers 250 following 40 posts
Freelance Natural Science Illustrator, ecologist, lover of of all things nature

MSc in Ecology from the Uni of Otago 🦎
BS in Enviro Science from Western Washington Uni

Commissions open
Website: https://pearlmomilanibarry.wixsite.com/studiopearlbarry
Posts Replies Media Videos
pearlbarry.bsky.social
#Orokonui snow day! Here's are our #takahē #whanau. Mom and her year old juveniles dote on one of 2 new chicks hatched only a few weeks ago. The juvs adore their baby siblings and enjoy feeding them grass and worms. The other chick is staying cozy in the tussocks with dad. #birds #NewZealand #nature
October 28, 2025 at 12:47 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
#Snow day at #Orokonui Ecosanctuary! When the cold set in, this group of young #kākā gathered together to snack and have a chat at the viewing platform.

#bird #conservation #parrot #wildlife #birding #Aotearoa #NewZealand #NZbirds #animals #Dunedin #endangeredspecies
October 28, 2025 at 12:32 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Otago green skinks in #Aotearoa #NZ appear to have close family ties for the first 3-4 years of life! Here are two baby #skinks with their older sibling who's probably 2.5-3 years old.

#lizard #reptiles #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #Orokonui #conservation #wildlife #animals #NewZealand
October 25, 2025 at 4:51 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
#PNW #wasps
#naturephotography #insects #flowers #nature #wildlifephotography #bugs
October 24, 2025 at 6:48 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Thanks Cory. Here's the same bird on one of the bird-water dispensers at Orokonui!
October 24, 2025 at 6:43 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Korimako are a type of honeyeater endemic to #Aotearoa #NewZealand.

Every spring when the kotukutuku (Fuchsia excorticata) blooms I see korimako with faces covered in the worlds only plant-kingdom's only bright blue pollen!

#nature #birding #birds #nzbirds
#birdsofbluesky #conservation #flowers
October 24, 2025 at 3:23 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Waimarie is one of 8 takahē living at #Orokonui Ecosanctuary, an one of only ~600 of her species! Takahē numbers plummeted to near-extinction in the South Island of #NZ in the 1940s. Large-scale invasive mammal trapping and predator-resistant fences are helping to bring them back!
#birding #wildlife
October 23, 2025 at 2:19 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Snack time
#Orokonui #habitatrestoration #conservation
#Aotearoa #NewZealand
#photography‪ #birding
#nzbirds #nature #kaka
October 19, 2025 at 10:07 PM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Birds are pretty cool too
#Orokonui
#Aotearoa #NewZealand
#photography‪ #birding
#nzbirds #nature #tui
October 19, 2025 at 4:27 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
I just these these little guys are so neat. Check out how their eyes look open, even when they are closed due to some special eyelid scale trickery! #photography #herpetology #Orokonui #Nature #Aotearoa #NewZealand #lizard #ecology
October 19, 2025 at 3:24 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
A sort video of those two in action. Your can see the male flicking his tongue - this can be a way to cool down in the heat, but is also a way to smell his mate's pheromones *mlem*. I have been watching these two for 3 summers and they have been amazing parents together. #Orokonui #herpetology #cute
October 19, 2025 at 2:58 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
It's spring time in #Orokonui Ecosanctuary, and that means my favorite bonded pair of Otago green skinks are active again! Going on 9 years old, the female (green nose) has had a litter of two skinklets (not the technical term) with her long-term mate. #photography #herpetology #NewZealand #Science
October 19, 2025 at 2:31 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
#art #digitalart #waterfall #landscapepainting
July 18, 2025 at 10:32 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Painting and inspiration

#art #landscapepainting #forest #natureart
July 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
I've been super inspired by the glowy and colorful forest paintings by @mk-howling.bsky.social. I have a lot to practice and learn!

#art #landscapeart #painting #digitalart #krita
July 9, 2025 at 4:10 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
I'm trying out a digital stippling technique for botanical illustrations using one of my favorite PNW wildflowers, the understated and charming Pacific starflower (Lysimachia latifolia).

#botanicalillustration #SciArt #scienceillustration #natureart #flower #PNW #wildflowers #botanicalart
June 22, 2025 at 1:16 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
While looking for #tīeke at #OrokonuiEcosanctuary, I saw many other inhabitants lucky to reside inside the protection of the mammal-resistant fence🪶. Here, a tauhou or silvereye was prying away the strippy bark of a kanuka, plucking insects hiding underneath.
#Aotearoa #NewZealand #SciArt #birding
A tauhou rests on the trunk of a kanuka tree in-between stints of pulling bark away to eat insects underneath.
June 18, 2025 at 4:44 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Yesterday I participated in a sanctuary-side survey for the recently released #tīeke at #OrokonuiEcosanctuary. We use a playback technique to draw in #birds to take note of their colored leg-bands. A curious miromiro also came by, wondering what the ruckus was about.
#Aotearoa #NewZealand #SciArt
A tīeke, a black bird with a sharp beak and a brown back, faces left with its bright red mouth open as it calls "tīeke tīeke tīeke". Its colorful, identifying leg bands are clearly visible, making the photo useful for our survey records. A tīeke, a black bird with a sharp beak and a brown back, faces right with its bright red mouth open as it calls "tīeke tīeke tīeke". the grey eye is alert and shining in the low winter light. A miromiro, a small bird with a large black head, small pointed beak, and bright yellow belly perches on a dead, thorn-armoured gorse branch. A miromiro, a small bird with a large black head, small pointed beak, and bright yellow belly perches lightly on a pale tree stump, with the blue sky in the background.
June 18, 2025 at 4:36 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
More pieces from my workshops on botanical and natural science illustration techniques. All drawn from life and accurate to scale 1:1. A Fuchsia flower in colored pencil, a river stone in watercolor, and a feather🪶 in watercolor.
#botanicalart #SciArt #scientificillustration #art #coloredpencil
Colored Pencil illustration of a pink fuchsia flower on white background Watercolor painting of a disc-shaped river stone on white background. Watercolor illustration of an orange and grey feather on a white background.
May 24, 2025 at 11:31 PM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Close up of the kahu
Close up of the kahu
May 22, 2025 at 6:04 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
Close-up
Close up of the face of one takahe
May 22, 2025 at 6:03 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
When takahē were discovered not to be extinct, conservationists had to learn to save them without much available information about their ecology. This illustration represents when alpine tussock grasslands were thought to be their preferred habitat.

#Aotearoa #NewZealand #SciArt #Birds #digitalart
Takahe tussock grasslands where we thought was there preferred habitat before more data showed they prefer swamp and forest edge habitat. Two takahe tussle in the foreground while another watches them closeby and a fourth seems ambivalent in the background. An Australasian harrier hawk, or kahu, soars around looking for the now extinct flightless wrens. A New Zealand Pipit watches the tussle from the branches of a dead hebe.
May 22, 2025 at 6:01 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
While visiting the aviary in the Dunedin Botanic Gardens a curious lori tried to taste my camera. Lorikeets have one of the strangest tongues in the bird world, with a brush like-tip that gathers pollen and nectar efficiently!

#birding #birdart #anatomy #study #sciart #scientificillustration
Yellow bibbed Lori side profile showing the contracted tongue anatomy. Yellow bibbed Lori side profile showing the extended tongue anatomy. Yellow bibbed Lori 3/4 view extended tongue anatomy. All of the the three illustrations on one page with handwritten text anatomy labels
May 20, 2025 at 11:01 PM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
A #treasuremap for my friend and award winning author John Egenes @jegenes.bsky.social for his new book, The Marfa Blues. So much fun to make a treasure map to fit in with the story!

#fantasymap #map #illustration #bookmap #artsky
An illustration of a hand drawn treasure map written in Spanish on a rectangular piece of soft leather. A close up of the map showing a detail of the canyons the treasure is hidden in. A close up showing the rabbit cascades, illustrated with a rabbit beside some mountains. Close up of las montañas de la muerte and the sierra cajon.
May 7, 2025 at 3:44 AM
pearlbarry.bsky.social
A book cover for my friend and award winning author John Egenes @jegenes.bsky.social of his new book, The Marfa Blues. You may have heard of John's last book, Man and Horse (or maybe you've seen it's cameo in the Barbie movie). Both are great reads so check them out!

#bookcover #illustration #art
A book cover for the book: The Marfa Blues by John Egenes. The cover has a graphic illustration of a old western café with a sign on the awning saying Vera's cafe. A raven perches on the rooftop. The cover has a graphic illustration of a old western café with a sign on the awning saying Vera's cafe. A raven perches on the rooftop. To the left, which is the back of the book, a silhouette of a cow on the horizon, casting a long shadow.
May 7, 2025 at 3:26 AM