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.    

Mood Adjusting Wild Turkey

It's impossible to sketch this face without smiling!
Yesterday, I plugged away at my taxes, not an activity my personality is well suited for. The previous night I created the pencil sketch for this art in my sketch book. It waited for me patiently on the kitchen table while I took on the less savory task. I could take breaks, work on the sketch a bit, feel refreshed and go back to my tax work. For the creative spirit, this is like an oasis in a desert. I will share turkey photos and tell you all about my visits with these funny creatures soon. But for the moment, I just wanted to share the fun they've brought me.

No matter how you're feeling when you begin, there is no way to hold onto a grumpy mood while you're sketching a turkey's face! And if it's the last thing you do before going to bed at night, you're certain to fall asleep smiling.

Phoebe Allens--Incubating now!

Phoebe Allens is a female Allen's Hummingbird who lives in the Channel Islands, in Orange County, California. Her nest is located in a rose bush right next to a house and she is incubating two eggs that are expected to hatch any time now. You can see it happening right on your computer screen!Yesterday I was so taken with her--watching her wiggle to settle on the eggs, hearing her zip off for a few minutes at a time, seeing her constant vigilance, even her eye blink--that I sketched her while I watched. And I couldn't help but marvel at her life. I've known for a while that hummingbird females are the sole nest builder, incubator and caregiver of the young, but the impact of that knowledge is even greater when you see such a tiny bird actually in the midst of these labors. Yesterday I saw her bring materials to add to her nest on one of those quick flights away. And if the cam should be down, there are wonderful clips to watch, like Phoebe harrassing her juveniles of a previous year, trying to entice them to fledge. And another one that shows her laying an egg!

Phoebe's eggs are due to hatch anytime now. Historically they have begun hatching at day 17 and this is day 14. Don't miss seeing her upclose at: http://cam.dellwo.com/

She is a real treat!

Jan 20th update: Both of Phoebe's eggs hatched January 19th, one before daylight, the other later during a very stormy day. When you view the cam now, you get the added treat of seeing tiny newly hatched nestlings during the brief times she leaves the nest!

Who's Boss?

There's a favorite perch near my front door. It happens to be the stump of an old apple tree, long since down, positioned, very handily, in front of a holly bush. And right in front of the holly stands the bird bath, a favorite place for birds to visit in the winter when they're looking for an unfrozen source of water. Most every bird eyeing the feeders or stopping by for a drink, will at some point take their turn on the old apple stump. Mockingbirds, jays, towhees, sparrows, titmice, chickadees and Downies, and most recently, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker. It's the taking turns part that has caught my attention recently, on more than one occasion.

Watching the birds interact at the feeders can sometimes be surprising. Mostly, they seem to come in waves, each bird, taking their turn, peacefully waiting for whoever is feeding to grab their seed and go. But I see other types of behavior, as well, like two titmice, a goldfinch, and a Downy, all feeding at the same time. Or when the seemingly peaceful White-breasted Nuthatch starts wing-flexing and warning everyone else away. And then there's the Bluejay who sometimes flies in like a thug and dethrones the Mockingbird from the holly perch.

I've seen many birds shy away from the Mockingbird, but this is clearly not always the case. On this occasion, a Red-bellied male landed on the perch. I slowly nudged the door open with my foot, hoping to get an image or two without disturbing him. With my eye to the camera, and my focus on the woodpecker, I heard a commotion but didn't pause to look until I had captured the two images below.

In the first, the woodpecker has flared his wings and tail and faces the intruder, a Mockingbird, with his beak high. If you enlarge the image and check the very top, you'll see a bird foot on the perch.

The Mockingbird tried one more time to claim his spot, but not only did the woodpecker not budge, he moved toward him. The Mockingbird settled for a nearby limb and the Red-belly reigned...this time.

Doesn't he look regal with his sunlit red head and fanned tail?

So regal, that I thought he deserved a place in my sketchbook.

And there was space for the mocker, too.

What can I say? They're all boss!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #70 at Birdfreak.com to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

The Beauty of November's Berries

Covered with berries and leaves earlier in the month, the Dogwoods in my yard are now bare of both. (Click images to enlarge.)All that remains are their upreaching limbs and tiny white buds, reminders of the crowd of birds, especially the robins, that covered their branches one morning and boldly announced their arrival.

But there are plenty of other berries still around, among them this native American Beautyberry (below) that I found at Ijams Nature Park. Expecting to find very little in the way of color when I stopped by, it took me by surprise. I even double checked to make sure the brilliant orange leaves were attached to the same limbs as the berries!

Who but Nature would pair these luscious colors together in such a grand display?!

October is most definitely a glorious month for leaves. But as November begins to fade, I think it steals the show, hands down, for its bountiful display of berries. Just ask the birds and squirrels who are busy harvesting them!

Lively October

October is so lively, so full of change and energy. Weather is changing. Leaves are changing. And almost daily, new migrants are visiting the trees in my yard. I can't keep up with them all. I want to paint each and every one of them.I love the chance to meet a new bird, read about where it nests, see where it travels, where it will spend its winter. I marvel when we have a chance meeting, that the wonderful oak tree in the front yard provides rest and foraging along his journey.

This is my sketch of one of these birds, the Magnolia Warbler (probably a male) created in my new Brenda Books sketching journal. It's a beautiful new journal with real rag watercolor paper. I'm finding it intially a bit intimidating--so brand new and inviting. You know, the feeling. You don't want to mess it up.
But that's watercolor and journaling. You plunge in. You make a mess. And altogether, it doesn't turn out so badly. And on top of that you have this wonderfully intimate experience, with a bird, with its lifestyle, with the magic of October.

Necedah NWR Boghaunter Trail--A Meadow and the Meadow Hawk

Meadows and wetlands make a wonderful combination. There is something to see and enjoy everywhere you look. We were actually getting good views of Bald eagles, five of them (as if that's not special enough!), when I spotted this Northern Harrier gliding low over the marshy meadow. While she appears to be over water in the sketch, she was actually at the edge of a grassy meadow, focusing on prey. In the next instant, she stopped in mid-flight and hovered, one of the many aerial feats that make these hawks so much fun to watch.

I give Northern Harriers credit for pulling me deeper into bird watching and prompting the purchase of my first pair of binoculars more than ten years ago. Several Northern Harriers wintered over in the fields where I lived, giving me daily views of their incredible aerial hunts. In this instance, at Necedah NWR, there were two Northern Harriers in view while we watched.

Below, along the trail, you see the same yellow aster shown in my previous post, this one in a different stage of maturity.

Lacy asters and other flowers dotted the meadow...

mixed in with a variety of milkweed plants displaying their pods.

I will venture a guess that above is the Common Milkweed, and below, the orange Butterfly Weed. Though this is risky at best, since Necedah is home to other milkweed varieties, including the Wooly Milkweed. Read more about the rare meadow flowers found on this trail in Geoffrey Tarbox's Sept 23rd post in Operation Migration's field journal. (Scroll down and watch for the date and this title, "Watching the Canfield Site/Return of the Plant Man".) Next post: Necedah's Oak savannahs and Red-headed Woodpeckers (possibly interrupted by some surprising and fun yard birds back in Tennessee).

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #57 at Birdfreak.com to celebrate the conservation of our world's birds

Of Monarchs and Milkweed

In this second post about my visit to the meadow at Ijams Nature Center, I'm celebrating the Monarch I encountered at the end of my journey. Her timing was delightful. I watched for a while, as she sipped nectar, landed on milkweed leaves, sipped more nectar, then settled again on a milkweed leaf, before I finally experienced the "wow" of realizing she was busy laying eggs. What a privileged moment!
Later that night, I opened the book I've been reading, No Way Home: The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations, by David S. Wilcove, and as if by magic, I found myself reading about the discovery of Monarch multi-generational migration. What an amazing story of natural wonder, both the perseverance of devoted naturalists and the story of the Monarchs themselves.
As you may know, Monarch caterpillars only eat the poisonous milkweed plant in eastern North America but neither the butterfly nor its other life stages can survive winters in this region. So they migrate, some wintering along the coast of California, but most, millions of them in fact, funnel into an area of old-growth forests in the mountains of Mexico. Amazingly, it isn't warm there either. But because they store fat in their bodies and winter in a semi-stuporous state protected by the forest canopy, they survive, stirring now and then when the temperature is warm enough to drink water and rehydrate. Milkweed with seed pods

When the time is right, they begin their journey north again, timed with the emergence of milkweed, mating and laying eggs as they go. Caterpillars are hatched, metamorphosis begins and new generations of butterflies emerge. And somewhere in this cycle as the summer comes to an end, a generation reverses directions once again, turning south toward their wintering grounds, continuing their reproductive cycle as they journey. And this is only a tiny glimpse into the fascinating mysteries of these butterflies' lives.

Like all things on this earth and in nature, habitat is changing due to both natural and man-made influences. Species of North American milkweed are declining due to agricultural practices and Mexico's mountain forests, though protected, are being fragmented by logging which in turn is making Monarch's more vulnerable to the harshness of winter.

As I read this story in David Wilcove's style, I felt even more gratitude for the moment I shared with this Monarch and for places in Tennessee like Ijams Nature Center and Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, where native plants grow full cycle and wildlife are supported in unfragmented habitat.

The more we learn about and understand the nature around us, the better stewards we become. Take a walk and investigate. And while you're out there enjoying the meadow, whisper "thank you" to the milkweed!

Next: The Bounty and the Goldfinch

Black-throated Green Warbler

I can't think of a better way to get acquainted with a new bird than to sketch it. In fact, studying images and field guides while trying to get colors, feathers, bill shapes and other features at least close, seemed to endear this warbler to me even more.

And while taking images only intended to help identify her, it was another pleasant surprise to find that I had captured her with a worm in her bill.

Visits with the tiny wood-warblers are brief at best, their movements busy and quick, unless of course, you have a male singing. This sweet female was foraging in the rhododendron brush along the Look Rock trail of the Foothills Parkway in east Tennessee, a scenic highway that winds through the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Native Carolina rhododendron in bloom on the trail.

My Tennessee breeding atlas says: "The breeding biology of the Black-throated Green Warbler in Tennessee is poorly known.....Elsewhere in the warbler's range, it nests at heights of from near ground level to 22 m...." I couldn't help but wonder if she had a nest somewhere in that thicket.

As you can see in the above image, the female's throat is whitish rather than black. But the male of the species has a promient black throat providing a rich contrast to the olive and yellow head.

She was a sweet surprise for a 90-degree, muggy summer solstice hike on Father's Day. And because I had the good fortune of being with an experienced birder, I also became more familiar with several other warblers by song, the Chestnut-sided, Hooded, Pine and Worm-eating warblers. Close by, we also enjoyed the persistent singing of both Red-eyed vireos and Blue-headed vireos. In all, we saw or heard 20 species.
In the image below from Look Rock tower, you can see a few of the mountain ridges through the mist.
Warblers--another reason to love the mountains.

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #43 at Birdfreak.com, bringing awareness to the conservation of our world's birds.