Tan’s sketches of the birds in her trees echo this dazzling precedent. Art as response to suffering, to political strife, a solo person’s response to events too baffling for a solo person.

“I find observing birds changes how I draw them. Rather than attempt photorealism, I sketch as quickly as possible to capture the birdiness of my subject.” Jared Nielsen, 44, Baltimore, Md.

Massive drawings of birds etched by pre-Inca people on southern Peru’s Nazca desert plateau include several exotic surprises, Japanese researchers say. Three avian images depict species that ...