Canadaga arctica

An illustration of 'Canadaga arctica,' a species of hesperornithid bird described in 1999 from fossil remains found in Nunavut, Canada. Since not much material has been found of this animal, I speculatively based its proportions off those of its better-known relative Hesperornis. To emphasize its Canadian origin, I provided a backdrop of ice-floes in the dead of winter, although logically it probably lived most its life along less-frozen Cretaceous shorelines.

This work was commissioned by a birder and Parks Canada associate, who suggested contemporary birds like Loons, Murres, and Guillemots as inspiration for the coloration.