Red-shouldered Hawk Territory

Wow.  My books arrived today!  What a delight to see the finished product.  

My reaction was like a five-year-old's excitement at Christmas, only maybe it even topped that because of all the hard work that went into it.  Not just the many hours of observations and sketching, but the actual making of the printed book.
  
I'm a person who loves books, the books with a spine and pages you can leaf through, the ones you curl up with in a comfortable chair.  I think they are precious.  And when it comes time to part with them to make room for more, hesitation is large.  I love reading them and writing them.  And, I love sketching and creating them.

The making of a book in print is a complex endeavor, one of determined cooperation and negotiation, as much about patience, communication, and team work, as the artistic vision that conceived the idea and moved the project forward.   And now I've found the right team (see links and resources).  The book is beautiful, so life-like in its replication of the sketchbook itself, that it's hard to tell the difference between the original book and it's mirror in print.    

And that makes me smile.  It is the greatest hurdle you go through in printing art in any form.  And this book is about art and nature, about observing and capturing what you've observed in words and drawings, and about learning what your subject has to teach you, even the parts you are not allowed to know.

It's a tiny book, by book standards, replicating the size of the sketchbook, but enormous in heart and inspiration.  I look back on this endeavor--the observing of hawks, most secretive and illusive of creatures--and wonder at the energy and patience that got me through this season of observation.  But I also remember the incredible excitement and beauty of seeing this pair of hawks during our first encounter.  The combination of their accessibility and the unlikeliness of encountering them in such a casual way produced more intrigue than I could ignore.  That they could be so close, and so ever present sent me into a spin.  That I could sit in the shade of a gazebo, and watch their activity as though I were a plant in the garden, astounded me from the beginning.

The observations you see in the book took dedication, the commitment to sit through non-activity hours, make regular visits a priority, the ability to remain still until my subjects appeared and to use my creative mind and curiosity to withstand lulls in activity.  Waiting for the chance to see a hawk and watch its behavior, now that might be an activity some would call a waste of time.  The thought crossed my mind more than once.  But even the wait can be an act of labor, something that keeps you deeply rooted to the project and makes you as determined as ever to see it through.

Art is not an activity for the faint of heart.  It challenges you inside and out, especially when that art is about something real, and alive and moving, and unpredictable.  You, the artist, are the same, alive, moving,  unpredictable.  But you have trained yourself to be still, knowing what treasures are found while remaining invisible.  And just when you think you might evaporate into nothingness with the waiting, a hawk appears, opens your heart and heightens all your senses.  And a sketch is born, a visual story of all that you've taken in.  Into your heart the hawk flies, and out through your hand and onto the paper.  

This is the essence of Red-shouldered Hawk Territory, A sketchbook journey through nesting season--the story of one season's natural wonder through the heart and hand of an artist.  I hope it inspires you to pick up a sketchbook and let your own story unfold.  

Links and Resources: 

It takes a talented team to create a book and Colin Hoffman, at High Resolutions, was tops to work with.  He also lead the production of my boxed set of note cards, Autumn Birds.  Visit High Resolutions to learn about the many printing services they offer.   

My other partner in this endeavor was Nan Rudd of Rudd Designs, in New Glarus, WI.  Nan was also the layout wizard for my joint venture with Operation Migration in the creation of the Craniac Kid's Whooping Crane Activity Book.  

For more details about Red-shouldered Hawk Territory and to order visit:  Red-shouldered Hawk Territory.  

You will find all my posts on my experiences in Red-shouldered Hawk territory by clicking this link.  The last post will appear first.  Scroll to the bottom and click "older" to move backward to the first post.  

For more information about the species, visit Cornell's site on Red-shouldered Hawks.    

Sandhill Crane Display Dictionary

Christy Yuncker Happ and George M. Happ are a pair of scientists in Fairbanks, Alaska, who have spent more than a decade closely observing a nesting pair of sandhill cranes.  And for those of us who enjoy crane viewing, they have compiled their research into a beautiful and informative pocket guide, the Sandhill Crane Display Dictionary--What Cranes Say with their Body Language.

More than 50 crane behaviors are illustrated and described in this informative guide, including the sequence of events that occur from the first month of nesting all the way through the parents' training of their young colt to dance, fly, and roost away from territory in preparation for migration.

Do you know what it means when a crane ruffles its feathers?  Or how to tell the difference between a preening ruffle and a ruffle that is intended to display a threat to another crane?  Details of these subtle communication differences are included in this guide, a handy reference designed to heighten your observation skills and increase your understanding and enjoyment of crane viewing.

Dancing is a crane behavior that many are familiar with, but did you also know that cranes train their young chicks to dance with them at an early age?  The guide takes you through a crane dance, naming and illustrating the different postures and explaining the meaning of this behavior in crane communication.  

In addition to its photographic detail, this accordion style dictionary describes eight key things to watch for as you try to understand sandhill crane behavior in the field. Guaranteed to enrich your crane viewing experience, this guide is a winner.  You will want to have it in your pocket the next time you visit a crane breeding or staging area!

For more information about the guide visit Christy Yuncker's Photo Journal.
The Sandhill Crane Display Dictionary is also available at Amazon.

Ghost Birds--A Must-Read for Bird Lovers and Conservationists

What an incredible story Stephen Lyn Bales weaves in his latest book, Ghost Birds.  Not just a book about the ivory-billed woodpecker, though that would be quite enough, it is the story of conservation’s beginnings in a rapidly changing, war-torn world, a time when sound recordings, movies, and still photography were barely versatile enough to be used “in the field” and field observations were new and uncharted territory.  

James Tanner was not only the man who most intimately knew the ivory-billed woodpecker, he was a pioneer in the emerging field of ecology while prevailing ornithological practices were still dominated by shooting birds and collecting specimens.  No one had ever before watched a live bird interact in its natural habitat and recorded that behavior for scientific understanding
.   

With his expert storytelling skills, Bales sets a vivid stage for his reader, giving not only the scene’s sensory detail, but the deeper context of history and prevailing mood of the time.  As readers, we get to effortlessly accompany James Tanner into the swamps, a young biologist facing an enormous challenge—learn everything there is to know about ivory-billed woodpeckers. 

Bales’ characters are bigger than life, and despite his work being based on reams of research, the story reads like a skillfully crafted suspense novel.  We see and experience Tanner’s celebrations, his disappointments, and his worries.  And through Tanner’s field notes, we experience the ivory-billed woodpecker—an incredible experience that is simultaneously heart-rending,
    

An excerpt from Ghost Birds:  “The adult ivory-bills spent considerable time near the nest, the male working to create a new hole in a live oak about one hundred yards away.  The female also worked on a hole high in a striped oak.  The pair interacted, with Jim noting how the “male lit below the female, climbed up past her, gave the toodle-toodle-toodle call.  They touched bills twice.”  At times their nestling could be seen with its head completely out of the nest hole, watching the scene that unfolded around him.”

At the same time we enjoy this tender observation, we are reminded of the alarming state of the ivory-bill’s habitat--a “bastion, a lost world”, one of the largest pieces of old timber left in the south, an island surrounded by men with saws.  It is impossible to read this story without feeling loss, without considering the lessons the story presents, and without contemplating the current state of our conservation practices and the time it takes to affect change.

A must-read for anyone who loves birds and champions conservation, Ghost Birds is a poignant journey back in time--a story about a changing field, a story about a man and a bird, a saga about survival that the world will not soon forget.     

Photo:  Author Stephen Lyn Bales with Nancy, the late James Tanner's wife.  

Links and resources:

Find Stephen Lyn Bales at Nature Calling.

Ghost Birds at Amazon

Ghost Birds at UT Press
Prelude to Ghost Birds:  Bales in the Smithsonian Magazine on newly discovered 1938 Ivory-bill images.

More about Stephen Lyn Bales on this blog

This review can also be found at Amazon

Simpson & Day Field Guide to the Birds of Australia--A Review and Give-Away

The 8th edition of the Field Guide to the Birds of Australia by Ken Simpson and Nicolas Day has been completely revised and updated and is now available from Penguin Australia.  And I have the pleasure of offering this book free to one of my blog readers!

Bound with a durable soft cover, this guide's pages are packed with beautiful illustrations, key points of identification, species location maps, and alternative views to aid identification, all easily located within a two-page spread.   

Below, the species page spread for the Laughing Kookaburra (top left on the color plate).  

In the detail below, you can see a comparison between the Laughing Kookaburra and its close cousin, the Blue-winged Kookaburra.  Smaller illustrations compare the two birds' color patterns in flight.

As you move to the left of the page spread, you find a description of key plumage along with a location map.  Supplemental line illustrations give more ID clues showing postures, behavior and plumage variations.    

And if you need a refresher on just what constitutes this bird's 'open forest' habitat, there is a handy reference section in the back entitled, "Where the birds live", an illustrated key to all the habitats found in Australia.  Every field guide should have this feature!  Habitat is crucial information, important to learn right along with field marks.

Some of the other outstanding features of this guide:

• How to observe a bird
• Key to bird families
• Vagrant bird bulletin  
• Breeding information 
• Australian island territories checklists
• Hints for birdwatchers 
• A glossary of terms
• List of birdwatching and naturalists organizations
• List of recommended books to enhance your bird knowledge   

Of course, as an artist, my favorite part of the book is the visual species information found in the 132 beautifully illustrated full-color plates.

As a relative beginner, I loved the handy and practical 'Hints' section.  And as a person who always enjoys digging deeper, the glossary of terms and breeding section were both winners.  Designed for experienced birders, as well as, beginners, this field guide browses like eye candy, packs volumes of information in every page, and offers over 900 line drawings to give its user even more information in a snapshot.  A highly recommended addition to your field guide collection!

And now for the GIVE-AWAY!  
If you would like to win a free copy of this guide, all you have to do is write a note in the comments section of this blog post telling me why you're just the right person to receive a free copy of the 8th Edition of Simpson & Day's Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.  Enter your comment by midnight July 31st (EDT).  I will select the story that impresses me the most and announce the winner on August 1st.  The winner will receive their new field guide directly from the publisher, Penguin Australia.