A Roller Coaster of Fun!

Its been a real roller coaster winter.  Really not nearly a bad as winters in the past...I remember some very limb numbing, frost biting ones and this particular one isn't really all that bad.  But its up and down, up and down...I suppose a lot of us just want to get of and rest up for spring anyway!

Winter in the valley here has been fairly quiet but pleasant - we have been waking up to Coyotes running through the pasture and yipping up a chorus to locate their buddies...and the Great Horned Owl pair that nest nearby each winter/spring have been hooting up a chorus together as well, but these are pleasant interruptions to our winter sleep...even becoming parts of dreams and making things really interesting.

The Bald Eagles have been fairly prevalent.  Seeing them along the roads on unfortunate raccoons that stepped in front of someone, or waiting near confinements...hoping for some free bacon I guess!  The river and creeks have had open spots for fishing but the up and down temps have closed and opened them enough to frustrate fishing somewhat I'd guess(?).

American Bald Eagle in the neighborhood.

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

The character above is what I'm guessing is a male (do to a slightly smaller stature) that was hanging out near a farm yard north of us, on a fairly nice Sunday afternoon.

I am finally starting to get back to the easel and other artwork in the studio.  I've have a few birds I've been wanting to get back to for the oil based color pencils and since I have a case of spring fever and looking through customer requests, decided to do another Baltimore Oriole.  I'm fortunate here that we get great populations of orioles through the spring and summer, so I have a lot of files I can refer to and draw from.

 

"Baltimore Oriole - male Portrait"

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

Here is my latest drawing and am pretty happy with the way it came out!  I started doing these more true to life size and working more for head and bust rather than just head and shoulders.  I have been giving more thought to complete birds and activities in color pencil but have yet to work up the courage...I have done some in the past at much smaller than life size in color pencil but not life size birds in their habitat.

It is actually only about 5 weeks till spring!  Isn't that amazing!  Time just keeps dripping through my fingers like a sieve...I need to find a way to slow its flow...I'd like spring and summer to last much, much longer!!!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow - hope to see you on the Tallgrass!!!

Changing for Spring - Update

American Goldfinch - male

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I think you could say part of this is an update on an older blog.  In the "Changing for Spring!" blog from April 1st, I talked about the Goldfinches molting here at the acreage.  Well, they've completed the molt cycle a couple weeks or more back and I thought I'd throw one up for you to see a male American Goldfinch in all its finery :)  I'm showing the back of the bird because it's the showiest profile...the beautiful stark black and white patterns with the bird's bright yellow back and nape and the forehead black again (as well as the accent of the bill coloration).  What a pretty little bird!

Now that the first flush of dandelions has gone to seed, these birds are all over the ground feeding on the seed heads.  It's pretty amazing (and amusing) when you look out on all the beautiful dandelions and suddenly they take flight!  The birds are like flying dandelions!  And they sing too!  What more could you ask?! 

I've often asked myself questions about the birds we see out on the tallgrass now...were they all here in similar numbers or did we create conditions making them more prevalent in some ways?  I know the American Goldfinch was very likely as common out on the prairie now as a couple hundred years ago. Maybe their population was different than now, but they most certainly were a bird of the prairie as much as the rest of the North American continent.

Baltimore Oriole - male

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

What about others?  The Baltimore and Orchard Orioles are back in the acreage now.  Were they "here" back "in the day"?  I'm assuming they may have been a savanna species...here in SE O'Brien County (Iowa), there were Bur Oak savannas nearby...some along Waterman Creek in the valley here but more so along the Little Sioux River valley south of us.  If they were a species of the savanna, were they "common"?  Interesting question.  I must say that if they weren't common then, we're very fortunate they are now!!!  Love these guys!

Gotta get some work done!  Hope you're not too distracted like I seem to be! 

See you on the Tallgrass!