Posts tagged ‘Birds’
Blue Skies and Bird Cries
Twelve species in four days. Our Great Backyard Bird Count wrapped up last Monday with a glorious spring-like day filled with blue skies and sunshine. The temperature reached a peak of five degrees Celcius in our locale, and the birds seemed to love it as much as we did.
Incidentally, Monday was also Family Day, and my husband and I spent the day splitting and piling next year’s firewood with bird seed scattered all around us and my sketchpad at the ready. Our brush fire crackled and birds sang as if spring had already sprung.
Some cracked corn kept a trio of Canada Geese happy, while some winter apples attracted Pine Grosbeaks. On the river we saw ducks in the distance, their white markings sparkling in the sun, but we couldn’t verify if they were Common Goldeneye or Bufflehead. We did verify, however, that our resident red squirrels, whom we had kindly put out a pile of sunflower seeds for, were indeed the culprits guilty of emptying the bird feeders every night. Happily for them, they’re just too cute to receive our censure.
Seeing the Northern Shrike is always a highlight for us, as is catching a glimpse of Sharp-tailed Grouse. For inspiration, the Redpolls stole the show with their charming, rosy-red caps and chests and their delicate size – comparable to that of a Chickadee. Spending a day fluttering around us pretty much ensures them a leading role in a future painting!
For the Birds…
For those of us enamoured with birds, it’s that time of year again to get out our counting checklists and take part in the ‘citizen’s census of the birds’.
The 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place this February 17 – 20. Simply mark down the species and numbers of each that you see in your own area on one or more days of the four-day event. Then report your findings at www.birdcount.org.
The cumulative effect of thousands of submissions is a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the location and number of birds across the continent. Bird watchers everywhere can help scientists compile a comprehensive picture of populations and distributions of bird species that they could not otherwise capture in so short a time.
As each year passes, large scale monitoring of bird populations gives us an idea of the overall health of our planet, since bird declines are indicative of very serious problems environmentally. In the long run, the bird count is not just for the birds. So mark the date, artists and bird enthusiasts alike, and aim to participate in this year’s count. Maybe there will be time to get in a quick sketch or two! And hopefully we can help to ensure that birds are there to enjoy, study and paint for years to come.
Spring Migration Is Here!
Living in northern Ontario means enjoying each season to the full – there is rarely any blurring of the lines between them.
As winter relaxes its hold, longer days and the sun’s warming rays mean the return of many more subjects for painting! From our observation, first to arrive were Crows, then Canada Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Then, the sky turned dark as over the horizon came flocks and flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles and Juncos, meaning only one thing at the feeders: Move over chickadees and nuthatches, you’ve got company! Robins puffed out their feathers as a late April snowstorm left a chill in the air and the ‘exotic’ call of the Northern Flickers announce their presence. Northern Harriers and Goshawks routinely peruse the still brown hayfields.
As every artist agrees, firsthand field observation is best for capturing the essence of your subject matter – and there’s no better place than at the bird’s buffet: the feeder. All it takes is some wild bird seed and a sketchpad. It’s been an avian extravaganza as we observe each species mingling with each other and with other species before breaking off into pairs for mating season.
Can’t wait for the warblers to arrive!
Paint What You Know
John Burroughs once said, “To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.”
His words reinforce the notion that there is always something fresh and inspiring in our everyday surroundings. What is more, if we presently do not know everything there is to know about our native flora and fauna, how can we ever hope to accurately portray in a work of art exotic specimens from which we find ourselves worlds apart?
Painting the world of Northern Ontario means, for me, painting a piece of my life’s experiences. Perhaps viewed as commonplace to some, the wildlife and landscapes of the place I call ‘home’ flow more naturally on paper than do wildebeests sweeping across majestic plains.
Expanding our horizons is always a good thing and the world has an endless array of natural subject matter to study and marvel at. But if we look past our own backyards to a distant, seemingly greener land beyond, that path we took yesterday may soon grow over with brambles – becoming hidden from view and, without our knowledge, burying within it its natural treasures.
