Birds

Yesterday, I went outside to do a few sketches of the nuthatches. I ended up with seven pages of bird sketches in my sketchbook. It was a cool, but sunny day, and the birds were very active. I had to refill the birdbath twice, because it was in constant use.

Many of the sketches show preening behaviors. I love the way birds open out their wings to preen. The angles their wings and heads make, in relation to their legs, are just beautiful. This is something that seems to come out better in my sketches than in finished paintings. The behavior is so transient, and it is something you can recognize in a sketch, but it somehow, to me, seems too temporary a pose for a painting. Time spent sketching is never wasted time, though, because it all becomes visual knowledge that informs later paintings.  But I suspect I may end up doing a painting someday of the preening baby robins that visited yesterday. Five of them were jockeying for position at the birdbath.

Cool Weather

Fifty degrees? In July? How wonderful!

A cold front has pushed through, and brought unseasonably cool temperatures. I could get used to this, but I am sure it will not last. What a beautiful morning.

Barred Owls, Bunnies, and Mosquitoes...

The mosquitoes have been fierce. Southern girl that I am, I was convinced that there must be a pool of standing water somewhere. The local paper, though, ran a story last weekend that said this particular type hatches out of the ground after flooding rains. Interesting, but annoying.

There are little Eastern Cottontail rabbits everywhere. I have never seen so many before! My mom pointed out that there must be a lack of predators, and I think she is right. In Tennessee, we heard coyotes howling at night, saw hawks sitting on fences and trees by day, and had lots and lots of big snakes. Other than the year the rabbits tried to make a warren under one of my giant rosebushes, I saw very few of them. Here, they are everywhere.

We saw a very large garter snake when we first moved in, but I have not seen it again. And I saw a Great Horned Owl mobbed by smaller birds last month.

Last night, though, we heard a Barred Owl. The voice was a bit different than we are used to hearing in Tennessee. And there was no reply, that we could hear. I still remember the wild chorus we heard one night in the Smoky Mountains, with Barred Owls calling back and forth over our tent.

So, to update the checklist:

Barred Owl (voice only), and
Downy Woodpecker

I love the cooler weather we are having. What a relief. I wish it would discourage the mosquitoes, though!