Black and White Warbler at Magee Marsh...photos, sketch, and a painting

A female Black and White Warbler (Mniotilta varia) was very thorough in her inspection of this weathered and half-dead tree. She systematically nabbed insects right and left from the nooks, crannies, and crevices of the bark (and I don't think she left any bits of the lichen unturned either :-)...

This beautiful female Black and White warbler foraged for several minutes right in front of me,
letting me marvel at her beauty and industriousness. (These photos go all the way back to May of this year when I was at the Biggest Week in American Birding.)

This post is for my parents, Joni and Jer, my cousin, Curg, and my Aunt Diane. They all traveled up to Maumee Bay State Park this weekend to look for ducks up on Lake Erie. Everyone was in need of Big Water, and Lake Erie, which is only 4 hours away, was the cure. I was supposed to go with them, but work got in the way. Magee Marsh is only 20 minutes from Maumee, so I told them to be sure to stop by the boardwalk. They did...on Nov 5, but it was closed for duck hunting (Nov 5 - Dec 1). So they didn't get to see the beauty of the boardwalk, but I'm going to lure them back up this May when all the warblers are there. That's the best time to go anyway, so I thought I'd post a small taste of what's to come this spring for them! I saw this Black and White Warbler on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on May 5, 2012. She was just one of hundreds of warblers flitting through the trees that morning...

It was slightly overcast that morning, but the gray light only helped emphasize her beauty!

The wet bark on the trees and the overcast skies above showcased the bright green of the lichens.

...no crevice, hole or crack escapes this little female's attention! 

Always nuthatch-like in their movements, Black and White Warblers can crawl up and down and around on a tree...

You can tell this is a female because she has a gray cheek. Males have black cheeks.

...sketches of the Black and White warbler I photographed that day. 
I drew this page in my sketchbook that evening from photos I took that day.

...a quick watercolor sketch of the female Black and White Warbler 
(painted from one of the sketchbook drawings).

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A flowering dogwood tree in autumn...

The bright red berries of a flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) tree bring a rush of everything autumn into my heart when I see them. When I was young, dogwood trees could be found everywhere. For me, their airy branches and delicate spring blossoms were the most beautiful of all the flowering trees, and when the hot summer days were swept away by cool and crisp breezes, and red and orange leaves danced in the forest, I couldn't wait for the burst of cheery red berries that would soon follow...

...bright red berries of a flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) define fall.

These berries are all from a dogwood tree I found while hiking around the lake at Greenbo Lake State Park in Kentucky during our annual fall trip. The tree was big, and I was excited when I turned the bend and found it. Around here, dogwood trees have succumbed to Dogwood Anthracnose, a fungal disease that stunts and often kills the tree. I remember back in the 80s when reports predicted dogwood trees might all be wiped out by the turn of the century, and it was all but hopeless. Luckily, some of the trees are surviving. A few seem to have a natural resistance to the fungus, while others seem to have survived because they are growing in a perfect location—sun, good air circulation, good drainage, yet sufficient water are all important. Since this tree was  so big, there's no doubt location, location, location was in play because it didn't seem to have been affected by the fungus and its fruit production was substantial...

...autumn leaves and red berries of the flowering dogwood add a splash of color to the fall woods.

The anthracnose fungus likes cool and moist conditions, and trees deep in shade are often more susceptible to infection. This tree was hugging the lake, but it was on a small promontory with nice sun exposure and plenty of air circulation. Because it's an understory tree, it was in partial shade, but the front faced the lake, which gave it access to extra sunlight. (Click here for a page on wet weather leaf diseases from the ODNR, which includes information on Dogwood Anthracnose.)

...red berries of Cornus florida on a healthy tree in Greenbo Lake State Park in Kentucky.

Dogwood anthracnose (Discula destructiva) affects flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) in the east, south, and parts of the midwest...and Pacific dogwoods (Cornus nuttallii) in the Pacific northwest. Click here for information on how to identify and control Dogwood Anthracnose. The most common symptom of infection is "spotting and blighting of the foliage," which shows as a tan spot on the leaf ringed in purple (click here for Cornell University's explanation).

In the 80s we were warned flowering dogwoods could someday disappear from our forests, so it's always wonderful to stumble across a large, healthy fruiting tree in the woods!

The disease was first identified in 1978 and through the 80s its spread was swift and thorough through the east, south and parts of the midwest, as well as parts of the Pacific northwest, but some trees exhibited a natural resistance to the fungus. In 1991 79% of the flowering dogwood trees in Catoctin Mountain park in Maryland were dead from the fungus, but a few escaped infection and were found to be resistant to the disease. Those trees became part of a study by the University of Tennessee Dogwood Research Team. The research team was able to produce an anthracnose-resistant tree called "Appalachian Spring" from clones of the Catoctin trees. In 2001 they planted many of the disease-resistant clones in the forest to help replace those lost to the disease (for more on this story, click here and here). The University of Tennessee Dogwood Research Team, chaired by Dr. Mark Windham, a professor at the University of Tennessee, is still working to improve and protect dogwoods from all diseases (click here for a recent article on what they are doing now).

These bright red berries stand out like fruit flags to migrating birds. The berries are nutritious and full of fat and can help fuel their long flights south.

Nutritional quality among berries differs. Dogwood berries are high in fat and calories. They ripen in late summer and early fall and are a favorite among migrating birds such as thrushes and catbirds, according to Geoffrey A. Hammerson in "Connecticut Wildlife: Biodiversity, Natural History, and Conservation" (page 366). Hammerson also mentions not all birds can handle high-fat diets; e.g., American Robins absorb digested fats poorly, so the bright red dogwood berries are probably not their first choice in berries, which is good because it leaves more of the berries for the migratory species traveling long distances that need them. If Dogwood trees and their berries disappear from the forests, they will leave a hole in many migrating birds' diets.

It sounds like these beautiful trees now have a fighting chance. Let's hope they survive, not only so we can continue to enjoy their beautiful spring blossoms and brightly colored autumn berries, but more importantly, so migrating birds have a ready source of high-fat fruit to fuel their journey south in the fall.

Painting and drawing Savannah Sparrows...and our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter!

I painted these Savannah Sparrows last week for a guest post I did on the Birding is Fun blog. As a reference, I used sketches of the bird I drew from an outing in early spring. Since our summer sparrows are leaving us for their winter grounds, I thought it a great way to say good bye to them. Sparrows are always fun to watch. They are sweet, and their subtle shades of browns, grays, and caramels are restful to the eye and make them interesting to paint...

...a sweet Savannah Sparrow in an early spring meadow (watercolor).

Sparrows go about their business without flash. They flit through the grasses and make us work to see and identify them. This little Savannah Sparrow, however, was making it easy. He was singing heartily, perched on a tall and dried-out reedy stem of grass left over from winter. I saw this bird on March 24, 2012 at Armleder Park in Cincinnati, OH. The bird was one of a pair that took turns diving down to the ground, then fluttering back up to a perch. In the same field, two Vesper Sparrows were doing the same thing, although they were much more secretive and tended to stay a little lower in the weeds (click here for that post). Both species were returning migrants, and it was wonderful to welcome them back for the season...

...same Savannah Sparrow trying his best to fade away in a field of dead stalks and grasses (watercolor).

Pencil sketch of the Savannah Sparrow at Armleder Park (March 24, 2012)

Pencil sketch of the same Savannah Sparrow at Armleder. 

...and already it's time to say goodbye to these sweet summer sparrows, as winter sparrows have already arrived in Cincinnati. I've read reports of White-crowned Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows, but so far, none have shown up in our yard. It seems Pine Siskins are making appearances in Cincy too! I hope a few drop by our feeders. We do have a new visitor, however—our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter flashed his white tail feathers this past Saturday on October 27, 2012. Last year our first junco blew in on November 8, 2012 (click here for that post and watercolors of the junco), so we're ahead of the game!

Sketchbook entry of our first Dark-eyed Junco of the season (10-27-2012)

Armleder Park is on the east side of Cincinnati in Hamilton County and is a great place to bird. It's about 30 minutes from my house, so I don't get there as often as I'd like. A small paved trail loops through a weedy meadow, and you have canoe access to the Little Miami River as well (305 acres).

Halloween...

Halloween cat...

Halloween pumpkin...

Halloween vulture...

Boo!
Happy Halloween

Have fun and don't eat too much candy!

Immature Little Blue Herons, photos, sketches, and a watercolor

Once a month, I'm a contributor on the Birding is Fun blog. I often forget to publish those posts on Red and the Peanut, so I'm going to try to add them in every now and then. Here's a post from way back in July:

Little Little Blues are white...
Early this June, Matty, Rick and I went to Hilton Head, SC for our vacation. I visited the nearby Pinckney Island NWP every day to watch the birds nesting at the Ibis Pond rookery. The Little Blue Herons were especially active this year, and the deep slate-colored adults could be seen sitting on nests, preening while they perched at the end of branches, flying overhead with long twigs destined for other nests, or just fluffing up to transform themselves into ridiculously attractive birds, but it was their snowy white offspring that I really paid attention to. The white-feathered young Little Blue Herons were busy flapping their wings, hopping from branch to branch, and waiting and begging for food...

Two young Little Blue Herons stretch and flap their wings from branches near their nest. They were not yet airborne, still gaining strength for their first flights. Here they were watching an adult that had just landed a few branches over, no doubt hoping for food!

Little Blue Herons have white plumage while they are young and retain the white color for their first year. They often nest with Snowy Egrets, but it's not too hard to tell the two white birds apart. Look at their legs, Little Blue Heron babies have greenish legs and feet. They also have dark blue-gray tipped wing feathers. It's often hard to see the dark-tipped feathers when the birds are at rest, but when they stretch, it's easy to spot the dark tips on the wing feathers.

...with the wings folded it's a little harder to see the dark-tipped wing feathers on a young Little Blue Heron, but if you look closely at the farthest end of the wing, you can see the dark tips among all the white.

The nice thing about a rookery, is the birds stay put for you! All this posing and sticking near the nest makes it easy to sketch and draw them. At Ibis Pond on Pinckney Island I love to sit down, set up the scope, and get out the sketchbook. Here are a few quick sketches of the two babies...

...pencil sketches of immature Little Blue Herons

Immature Little Blue Heron (watercolor heightened with black and white conte crayon).
...painted this from a sketchbook drawing earlier this summer.

...and here's papa fluffing up in all his blue grandeur!
(I took this photo last year at Pinckney, but it's one of my favorite fluffing-up shots.)

II have lots and lots of Hilton Head birds sitting in the archives patiently waiting to get out. I need to hunker down, focus and bring those photos to life! (...I still have lots of cool birds, insects, turtles and snakes to write about from Magee Marsh in Toledo, Shawnee State Park in Ohio, and Greenbo Lake in Kentucky too...I'll never get caught up!)

Canoeing Greenbo Lake State Park in Kentucky...with two little stinkpots...

Last weekend, Rick, Matty and I, my parents, and my brother, sister-in-law and niece headed southeast for an autumn adventure at Greenbo Lake State Park in Kentucky. Every year we take a fall trip together to relax, hike and create memories. I think we've been to just about every state park with a lodge in Kentucky now. Next year the kids go off to college (sniff), but we made a pact to keep our autumn adventures going. Wherever the kids end up, we are going to take one weekend every fall and go somewhere together. This year was another perfect trip. The weather was wonderful, the hiking fun, and lots of memories were added to the memory vault...

The kids canoeing on Greenbo Lake in Kentucky. The temps were crisp and the leaves were already showing gorgeous autumn color. Being in the woods with my family is my favorite thing! (Sprinkle in a few birds, and it's icing on the cake. A female Belted Kingfisher flew right in front of us and across the lake just minutes after I took this photo.)

(Rick's the perfect canoeing partner. He always picks up the slack when I pick up the camera instead of the paddle!) Hi Rick!

Greenbo Lake is amazingly clear! You can see fish at deep depths, and you can see all the way to the bottom at least 15-20 feet from the edge. Rick and I spent a lot of time just paddling around the edges looking at fish and seeing what was on the bottom. We even saw two Stinkpot turtles (Sternotherus Odoratus) swimming and walking around...

This little Stinkpot Turtle looks like she's in shallow water, but she's in water at least 8 feet deep. This photo shows just how clear Greenbo Lake is. I'm assuming this is a female stinkpot because of the short tail; males have longer tails. She was about 5-6 inches long and was covered in algae. 

Stinkpot Turtles are new for me. I'd never seen one in the wild. Stinkpots don't do a lot of basking in the sun on logs, so you usually only see them when they are moving around in the water, and water usually isn't this clear, so we were lucky to see them. The stinkpot's head is very large and triangular-shaped with an upward pointed snout that sort of resembles a snapping turtle, but it's clearly not a snapper because two noticeable yellow stripes run from the snout to the neck. The carapace is different too because it's smooth instead of spiky like a snapping turtle's. The yellow stripes on the head reminded me a bit of map turtles also, but the carapaces were too different. I was puzzled, so I sent the photos to turtle expert, Paul Krusling, who knew immediately what they were...stinkpots!   

Stinkpot turtles aren't fast swimmers. Their short little legs produce a swimming stride that could almost be described as "lumbering," but they do move along, and I was soon pleading, "don't swim away so fast, turtle. I can't ID you yet!!"

When we got home, I pulled out "Amphibians and Reptiles of Indiana," by Sherman Minton, and started reading about stinkpots, also called Common Musk turtles. Soon all the field marks started making sense. These turtles really are distinctive once you study them. A few more descriptive field marks made the ID obvious...an elongated carapace that is smooth and domed, webbing on the feet that goes all the way to the toenails, and weak swimming. They like slow-moving water with muddy bottoms, which definitely fits Greenbo. I also read Stinkpot turtles are nocturnal, so we were doubly lucky to spot them moving around on the lake's bottom in the afternoon! As the name implies, Stinkpots (or Common Musk) turtles get their nickname from their ability to secrete a stinky smelling defensive oil through their carapace when they are under duress.

Tall pines border a good part of the lake, and when you canoe close to the shore, that fragrant pine scent sweeps over you and causes you to linger. 

My parents, Joni and Jerry, taking a leisurely pontoon boat ride with Bill and Gail. 

Canoeing on Greenbo Lake in Kentucky from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.

A very short iPhone video of our autumn afternoon out on Greenbo Lake.

Canoe race on Greenbo Lake in Kentucky from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.

...another short iPhone video of canoeing on Greenbo Lake in Kentucky...this time, a short race.

If you live in Cincinnati or Mason, Greenbo Lake State Park is only about 2 hours and 45 minutes away and is a very easy drive. We enjoyed hiking on the deserted trails and basically had the lake to ourselves. We had a lot of fun, and the food in the lodge was good too (especially the cherry pie!).

Images of autumn...

...colors are richer, shadows are deeper, and the warm oranges and reds of the season ignite anticipation of the ancient celebration of harvest and plenty...

These photos are all from the walk Matty and I took along the Little Miami River at Spring Valley Wildlife Area (from the previous post).