April in Almost Heaven (West Virginia)

A Blue Jay recently visited my feeders and I happened to notice the wonderful mosaic of color made by his wings when they are folded back over the tail.  I tried to capture that in watercolor in my journal, but, to paraphrase Joyce Kilmer, Only God can make a Blue Jay.

This is the most beautiful Spring I have ever seen.  Because we didn't get any heavy frosts just as the flowers were emerging, there are more flowers than ever.  The cherry, plum, and crab apple trees were loaded with blossoms, and now the dogwoods are putting on a show in my neighborhood.  I've been noticing how there is a steady succession of flowers, leaves and seeds on the hardwood trees.

One tree caught my attention with what I thought were pale yellow flowers.  Upon closer examination, it was the seeds (samaras) that looked like flowers from a distance.  I was prompted to check my tree field guide to identify the tree as the American Elm.  I did this watercolor sketch to help memorize the details so that I will be able to recognize them in the future.  By the way, I now know why my college botany professor made us draw what we saw in the microscope and if I ever see him, I will apologize for complaining!

Nature Journal July 2010

Flocks of Goldfinches have been coming to my thistle feeder this summer, and now they have descended upon the Coreopsis that has taken over my perennial bed.  They are a beautiful sight.  I should remove the brown seedheads - my garden would look a lot better -- but I couldn't do that to the birds!!  This watercolor page in my journal will always remind me of the golden days of summer..

Ugly bird!

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about seeing a bald cardinal and sent me a link about them from the internet.  Apparently it's not uncommon.  There were several photos and descriptions and people guessing why the bird was bald.  The two suggested reasons were 1) molting; and 2) lice, the latter of which seems to be the most likely.  The reason for the feathers being missing only on the head is that birds can preen their feathers on the rest of their body to clean out the lice, but not the head.  Hmmmm.  Whatever. 

Only a few days after I heard about this, I noticed a strange looking bird at my feeders and jumped up from my chair for a closer look.  And guess what it was?  It was a female cardinal with an ugly bald head.  It took me about a month to get a decent picture.  I do believe this is the shyest bird in the neighborhood... and rightly so :)  Poor thing.  Don't look at the photo closely if you have a weak stomach.

Nature Journal May 2010

There is a wide difference between the wildlife of the city and that of woods and meadows less than 30 miles away as the crow flies.  Birds, in particular, are quite different. On a recent getaway at a friend's farm, I identified and recorded thirteen species, many of which I have not seen at my deck feeders.  For example, the Eastern Phoebe, was flitting from the woods to the eaves of the house where it had built a nest of mud and grass.  It is a pretty little bird in shades of bark grey and brown.  I had never seen this bird before, and it took me a couple of days to positively identify it.  The most common flower blooming along the creek and road was a daisy fleabane, but it is pinkish purple and a different species from the white one that keeps popping up in my perennial bed. And then there were the wood ticks.... arrgh!  But no harm done, just a squeamish feeling for the rest of the day after I got them out of my hair. 

Baby Wrens

There was so much action at my bird feeders this morning that I couldn't get any work done for watching them and trying to get some pictures.  There were three baby wrens, and they were the cutest things ever, sort of fluffed up like they didn't have all their clothes on.  They were walking around a little dish garden, and saying "Are you my Mommy?" to the bird figure in it.  The real mommy was singing "teakettle, teakettle, teakettle, tea" from time to time, to keep them with her I guess. 

This afternoon, the weirdest thing happened.  I heard a bird hit the window and looked up to see it fly into the open door of my screened porch.  It was a wren.  It flitted around, and I thought it couldn't get out, so I went out and helped it toward the door until it flew out and off.  I shut the door this time, so the birds couldn't get in any more.  In a couple of minutes, I saw the wren with grass in its beak hopping around on the step next to the porch door.  Then I realized what that leaf I had seen up on the cornice over the doorway inside the porch had been all about.  It was a start of a nest.  I debated whether to open the door and let it go ahead and finish the nest, but decided I might not be able to sit on the porch for several weeks if there was a momma wren and babies in there, so I sadly left the door shut and hoped the wren would find a better place.  What I didn't understand was, would the mother wren be starting a new nest to start all over again with some more babies?  I hope so!

April Journal

I don't know what happened to the month of April.  I know I spent more time looking at all the wonders of nature than I did trying to sketch and paint them.  Maybe my sketching will improve to the point that I can do it en plein air someday and will get my nature journal chock full of wonderful renderings.  That's the dream, anyway. 

So here's the common sights of April at my house:  dandelions and violets, blooming trees, and birds taking baths in the top of a recycling container on my deck.  I'm looking for a nice birdbath with a fountain that will bring the birds around all summer.

Did you ever notice how many shades of green there are?  If you paint with watercolors, I'm sure you are way ahead of me.

Out like a Lamb

March is gone, and I just put the finishing touches on my watercolor journal page.  I've been enjoying the sights and sounds of Spring too much to take the time to sketch and paint.  I'm sure the wildflowers are now in bloom at the Forest, and I can't wait to get out there!  March was a good month, but April is enchanted.

Spring!

Spring is bustin' out all over Charleston, West Virginia.  I've been distracted from my work by all the action at my bird feeder and in the back yard.  One morning, I recorded six species of birds, a herd of five deer in my neighbor's back yard, three squirrels, a rabbit and (yikes!) a rat.  Called the exterminator about that one.

The birds are singing their spring songs (and you know what that means).  The house finches have been fighting with the English Sparrows for domination at the feeder.  The finches are quite colorful, especially the males, which have rosy heads, breasts and rump spots.


I had work to do last week, so I didn't get to the forest to look for Spring Beauties and ramps, but there were beautiful flowers in my own neighborhood to fascinate me.  Birdseye, Veronica persica, is a tiny flowering "weed" that grows along the street or sidewalks.  A close-up view with the macro lens shows how delicate and beautiful this little flower is.  And I love the pure shade of blue!

February Journal

With all the bad weather, I've not been able to go to the studio so I've been using the free time to work on my drawing and watercoloring skills with my nature journal.  My bird feeders were quite active with birds and squirrels, the latter amusing me with acrobatics they performed in stretching to reach the feeders.  As I was watching the Olympics while sketching, I got in the spirit and awarded my squirrel a gold medal for his acrobatic achievement.

 

A few warm days last weekend brought out the buds on the hellebores.  They have such beautiful flowers, it's a shame that they have a tendency to bend downward so that it's difficult to see them.  I suppose this is a survival feature, however, and is useful today when the snow started burying them under again.  Sigh....

January Journal page

January was the month of snow and little brown birds.  Here's my journal page to go with the photos in my February 3 blog entry.  I just read that the white-throated sparrow is not usually a permanent resident of WV.  It's great that I have had two of them at a time at my feeder -- hope it's a breeding pair.  They are really cute little birds with their yellow streaks and white chins.

  I didn't plan the January page and it shows.  I learned that lesson and did a little thinking ahead when I started my next one.  In honor of Valentine's Day, my February journal page features two birds that I usually see in pairs. That's the only hint I'm going to give you. 

Well, if you insist, here's one more:  the color of the month is red...

Nature Journal

One of my goals for 2010 is to keep a nature journal.  This involves sketching and watercolors, two art techniques that are very difficult for me, and therefore, something I need to practice.  I was introduced to this concept by a friend who is a Master Naturalist and has been doing a journal for several years.  I was inspired by looking at her wonderful sketches that came from her observation of the plants and animals through the different months of the year and places she visited.  I challenged myself to learn to draw by starting my own nature journal this year, and I started with the winter birds visiting the feeders on my deck.  Here is the first page that I did.

All the little brown birds

Today was a bird watching day.  Lots of visitors at the feeders on my deck, so I set up my "big" camera on the tripod to try to get some clearer shots than I normally do.  My favorite little bird, the Carolina wren (actually, there were two of them today -- good news!) came several times so I got some good pictures for a change. 

 

I tried and tried to get a good shot of the tufted titmice, but those little devils move too fast for me to focus and shoot. They are pretty shy. I thought about making a blind to hide me, but didn't have ideas about how to do that in an easy way, so I will do that some other time.

I almost got him... :)

I'm paying particular attention to all the little brown birds.  It's easy to identify cardinals, blue jays, and mockingbirds.  It's more challenging to recognize the different sparrows, finches and other less colorful birds.
A bird that I just identifiedthis winter is a frequent visitor.  It is the white-throated sparrow. 

When you really pay attention to the little brown birds, you realize that they are not all the same.  This one is quite pretty with its white throat and two yellow stripes on its head.  It likes to pick up things off the floor of the deck.  Sure wish they would clean off the seed hulls and other dirt as well as the little bits that the other birds throw out of the feeder.