Buffleheads at Pine Hill...

Rick and I didn't have a lot of time to walk this evening, so we headed over to the small trail around the lake at Pine Hills Park (in Mason, OH). I'm glad we went, because a cute little Bufflehead couple  was tooling around the lake looking adorable...

A male and female Bufflehead were swimming and diving at Pine Hills lake.
(The female has the white cheek patch; the male has more white and is very dapper!) 

The two ducks did a lot of diving and the bright white on the male made it easy to spot him when he bobbed back up to the surface. Buffleheads dive for invertebrates and some seeds as well. They swallow their food whole while under the water.

This Bufflehead couple won't be around our area for long. They start heading north in late spring to reach their breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska. Like Wood Ducks, Buffleheads nest in tree cavities and search out abandoned woodpecker holes.

...such a handsome couple! I'm so glad we caught sight of them today.

The first snake of spring...a Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)!

Matty and his friend, Kedar, were exploring the stream that flows out of Pine Hill Lakes in Warren county, when they came across the first snake of spring...a Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)! In autumn we gage the change of seasons by watching for our first Dark-eyed Junco, but in spring, we watch for our first snake. Last year, I won, spotting an Eastern Garter Snake on April 22 (click here for that post). This year, Matty won...

Matty holds his first snake of the season, a Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata). This is the earliest we've ever seen a Queen Snake out and about in the water. (These photos aren't bad! Kedar took them using Matty's iPhone. Matty definitely has a little me in him. He knew I'd want a few photos for the blog..)

Queen Snakes are aquatic and nonvenomous. Matty and Kedar found this snake by flipping rocks in the stream. Queen snakes are dark brown or olive on top with a yellow or honey-colored stripe along their sides. Underneath, they have a pair of dark stripes on their belly. The belly stripes are diagnostic and make it easy to distinguish them from garter snakes.

This little Queen Snake was very friendly and didn't even musk on Matty.

...a one-second video of Matty holding "Regina" the Queen Snake (it was one of those you think you're going to take a photo, but the video was left on videos). I wish they had taken an actual video. I love watching the snake's movement.

Tree Swallows in the early spring...

Friday it was 62 degrees F in Cincy...and sunny! It's often below zero this time of the year, and thick grey clouds so low in the sky you can almost reach up and touch them can lock us in for months on end, so sunny and blue and warm is a gift I'm glad Mama Nature is handing out. The daffodils have pushed through the earth in our front yard, and it feels like spring, which made me think of one of our earliest spring migrants, the Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Every March I anticipate their return, watching and waiting for them to swoop down and into the nest boxes at VOA Park and Pine Hills Lakes. With the spring-like weather and blue, sunny skies, I couldn't help but have these sweet birds on my mind, so I went through old photos for inspiration for this painting...

Painting 204. Tree Swallow in Early Spring on Rusted Steel Post

(watercolor)

...another painting for Laure Ferlita's 100 Paintings Challenge. If you're an artist looking for a challenge, join up!

A Watery White-throated Sparrow

This is the same White-throated Sparrow that showed up in painting 127, but here he's flown to a sparser tree (instead of the tangle of branches), and he is perched high above me...looking down. It was an interesting sight because he was still puffed up for maximum heat insulation and could barely see over his fluffy chest and belly feathers. Snow had not accumulated on these unprotected branches, and the clouds were getting darker. Although I painted the branches tight, I decided to make the bird and sky watery and loose.

Painting 128. White-throated Sparrow in Winter

(Watercolor, 12x16 Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Paper)

I painted the background with a single wash alternating between Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna (Daniel Smith watercolors). Working quickly, I used a watery brush with a heavy pigment load, going back and doting in pure color here and there to get the rolling cloud movement. If I had not masked out the bird and branches, it would have been much harder to achieve this result because I would have had to slow down and cut around the bird and branches. (I had already started to paint the branches before I thought about a scan to show the masked-out bird! :-)

Pencil sketch of the White-throated Sparrow

I didn't need much detail for this sketch because I knew I was going to make the bird watery and impressionistic.

Last year at this time I was only working on painting 17, so I'm 11 paintings ahead--yeah! If I have any free time, I'm up in the art room painting, and of course, if I'm waiting in the car or at on of Matty's practices, I'm sketching or painting. All the extra sketching time is really helping. I'm so glad I'm not afraid to paint and sketch in public any more.

White-throated Sparrow in a tangle of snowy branches...at dusk...

I saw this White-throated Sparrow back in January. I was at Pine Hill Lakes, a local park, "snowbirding" while Matty and his friend were snowboarding. This fellow was tucked so deeply into the branches it was impossible to photograph him, but I studied him for three or four minutes as he sat puffed up against the cold, knowing I'd turn him into a painting. It wasn't quite as dark as I painted it here, but the sun was starting to sink, and evening was falling hard--the cold biting bitterly and leaving my fingers practically numb.

Painting 127 - White-throated Sparrow in a Tangle of Snowy Branches at Dusk

Watercolor, 12x16 Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Paper

To create the background, I masked out the branches and bird, and used a heavily pigmented wash sprinkled liberally with salt. I wanted the dark blue to convey cold and impending nightfall. As the wash dried, the salt crystals sucked up some of the pigment leaving a mottled design. I used many layers to create the dark, dark branches, trying to add to the feel of dusk. This painting tested my patience! I kept wanting to "just finish the branches already," but I would force myself to walk away and let the layer dry. The branches were vital to the design, so I couldn't hurry them along.

Pencil Sketch and Study of the White-throated Sparrow. If you look in the top-left corner, you can see I worked out the design back on February 14. This little White-throated Sparrow bounced around in my head for a long time.

I used this blurry ref photo to help me sketch out the painting, but I used my memories to create the "feel." I knew I wouldn't be able to get a good photo of him that afternoon, so I took extra time to study him. I wanted to remember how I felt when I saw him so my memories could drive the painting.

(I'm trying to decide if I want to add snowflakes to the painting...I would spatter them on to look like a gentle snowfall. It wasn't snowing when I watched this guy, but a few snowflakes might be in order!)

This painting is part of the 100 Painting Challenge. If you want to make art a regular part of your life...join up! This is my second year of the challenge. I'm working on 500 paintings in five years.

Remember the Breadcrumb Fairy?

...she still seems to be visiting Pine Hill Lakes!

A little Carolina Chickadee alighted in the pine tree that the good-hearted Breadcrumb Fairy always seems to toss buns under. Click here to see what the Breadcrumb Fairy brought last year (I still haven't seen who the fairy is...).

Chiggy is studying the ground beneath the huge pine looking for breadcrumbs.

He looks a little harder..."they have to be down there somewhere, they always are..."

It was late in the day, and the birds must have been busy all day eating what was there because the snow and pine needles had been well "bird-foot-raked," and nothing much was left to be seen--but after a little hopping around and kicking up snow, the birds always came up with something to eat.

Looking...looking...

Our little tan-striped morph White-throated Sparrow was thorough in his recon...

...looking some more...a snowbird's work is never finished...

It all pays off. He's just about to rake up a bite to eat.

A sweet Song Sparrow gets in on the action and is rewarded for his efforts too.

Snowboarding and snowbirding...

Late yesterday afternoon I took Matty and his friend, Chet, to Pine Hill Lakes for a little snowboarding. While they snowboarded, I snowbirded...

Nothing beats the stunning red of a Northern Cardinal against the snow.

We were at Pine Hill Lakes the same time last year, and a cardinal stole the show then too.

Muffled shrieks and laughter from kids having fun on the sledding hills drifted down with the snowflakes as I sat in a little snowbank watching this male Northern Cardinal survey the land.

Matty snowboarding past me.

...running up that hill! It's fast down...but slow back up!

Little bird...big song...

...continued from Monday's post on the Breadcrumb Fairy at Pine Hill Lakes.

Carolina Chickadees are never afraid or timid. They always fly right up and tell you all about it...

Perched on a bun, this fellow was very enthusiastic with his chatter

until he finally nipped off a piece of bread and flew off with it.

...adorable faces, adorable sounds, adorable antics...

Chickadees sprinkle cheer wherever they go!

...his little song melts into my heart every time I hear it.

...in the dead of winter the chickadee's song is just too perfect for words.

...for an older post on the beauty of a chickadee's song, click here.

Tufted Tiddlywinks and the breadcrumb fairy...

Today, AGAIN, it snowed, snowed, snowed...and it's still snowing now! It’s very pretty out there, but maybe not quite as pretty as it was 4 snows ago……. Anyway, all this snow makes for great sledding, so a few days ago I took Matty and his friend sledding at Pine Hill Lakes Park. I was hoping the breadcrumb fairy had shown up again and left crumbs under the big pine tree by the parking lot so I could photograph some of the birds. There were no breadcrumbs tucked under the tree that afternoon--but there were buns…big and fluffy, and covered with sesame seeds…and lots of them! So our local breadcrumb fairy was not a one-shot deal. Somebody was taking care of the Pine Hill Lakes birds on the sly!

20 or 30 large buns had been left under the tree for the birds.

Birds were flying in left and right to nip off small pieces of bread and pose for a photo, so I plopped down in the snow just under the boughs and sat still (thank goodness for Spyder snow pants and coats...warm and waterproof!). The birds soon became accustomed to me as a nonstop procession of titmice, juncos, cardinals, white-throated sparrows, chickadees, and even a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a very cute Carolina Wren took turns grabbing a bite to eat. In the distance I could hear screams of excitement as kids raced down the snowy slopes, but here, under the pine boughs still heavy with snow, it was very quiet and still. Now and then tiny bird sounds would drift down through the branches as feathers whisked against pine needles, knocking clumps of snow to the ground. Of course, when the Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker arrived it wasn't quiet. They announced themselves regularly with their wonderful songs...

This Tufted Titmouse was very friendly. He studied me for a

while before grabbing a bit of bread and flying up in the tree to eat it.

My cousin, Curg, calls these guys Tufted Tiddlywinks. (Hi, Curg!)

...for some reason that really seems to fit, so Mr. T Tiddlywinks it is!

After about 45 minutes my battery died. Grrrr…. It had only one bar of charge when I left the house, so I was lucky to get 45 minutes out of it. The last time I photographed the breadcrumb birds I filled up the card and didn't have a replacement with me. Well...Matty's school was just called off for tomorrow, so another snow day awaits us. Yeah! I bet we will go sledding again.

Breadcrumbs under a tree...

...continued from the "...tough little birds of winter" post.
Some kind soul left a bounty of breadcrumbs under a pine tree at Pine Hill Lakes park. I don't know if they leave the crumbs there regularly for the birds, or if it was a one-time deal, but all the birds seemed to know about it and were flying in and out of that tree like it was an airport.

Chiggy spots a breadcrumb in the snow...

...he surveys the land to make sure the coast is clear...

...then dives in for the kill.

...quickly flying up to a branch higher in the tree to eat his frozen treat.

...this tree was a very happy place that afternoon with nonstop traffic from Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, and Carolina Chickadees.

...tough little birds of winter, continued!

...continued from Sunday's Chickadee post.
Deeper in the woods, a male Northern Cardinal puffed his feathers up to gargantuan excess, forming a warm barrier between him and the freezing air around him and allowing him to keep his internal body temperature at a snuggly warm 105 to 108 degrees F.

...the bright, fiery red of a male Northern Cardinal against drifting, spinning, soft-white snowflakes.

Tucked away in a dense tangle of branches, I didn't think I had a chance of capturing his startling shock of color or the overall peacefulness of the bird resting in the cold, but the small branches blocking the view blurred to softness as I focused past them and on him, framing him in what looks like a wintery fog.

...with that tiny sound of snowflakes falling all around, Red looks on, not knowing his beauty is the focus of my lens.

Snow, sledding and the tough little birds of winter...

Friday afternoon, with snowflakes falling and spirits soaring, Matty, Ashley (our fun neighbor), and I headed over to Pine Hill Lakes Park in Mason for sledding and snowboarding. The snow was fluffy and our "secret" slope was empty...hooray!

Matty tearing down the hillside on the snowboard.

I stuck to the sled (I already had one reconstructed ankle, I didn't need another!).

Ashley with her snowboard and Patrick, the snowball. Patrick met an untimely death. It wasn't pretty...

Matty demoing the latest in hockey attire--the fake fur tundra hat!

Deep brush and woods bordered the sled run, and a small flock of Carolina Chickadees flew in to forage among the dormant honeysuckle. It was really cold. The little birds flitted from branch to branch like it was a summer's day, seemingly without a care, but I knew better and marveled at their ability to stay warm. To live through freezing weather, chickadees have to become eating machines, gaining enough fat during the day to fuel them through the long night. What's enough fat? At least 10 percent of their body weight!

...eating...

...eating...

...eating...

...a tough little winter chickadee is a metabolic fireball...

...and he's darn cute too!