Spring!

 

 

Pasque Flower at Prairie Hill Farm

 

It isn't spring on the Tallgrass until the Pasque Flowers bloom!  Our south pasture gravel slope has Pasque Flowers near the crest of the hillside and they were clearly happy this spring!  One thing I did not notice however, was any pollinators.  Yet the blooming occurred for about 2 weeks and I certainly wasn't out there all the time to check.

Pasque Flowers at Prairie Hill Farm

 

 

We did manage some spring burns this year, and were able to rest the largest hillside in the north pasture, to allow it to rest a year.  We burnt the NW hillside which hadn't burned since the winter of 2022; and burned the NE bottom triangle for the first time in 3 years as well. 

I like the idea and practice of rotations, hopefully will give the invertebrates a break here and there.

About 1/3 of the south pasture was burned last fall and then seeded.  I've already been in there with some grass herbicide to help knock the brome down a bit and allow some newer seedlings an opportunity to get a head start.  I do have hopes of some decent moisture there...its a very gravelly hillside over there and doesn't seem to retain much moisture through the summer months...its been a struggle over the years getting that pasture to thrive, particularly because of the 4 straight drought years we've had.

 

"Whiskey" the Red-tailed Hawk!

On an ending note here, Whiskey the Red-tailed Hawk male was brought out to the acreage by our Falconer friend to be released back into the wild.  It was a bittersweet moment but still fun to watch.  Birds of prey are lawfully released by licensed Falconers if they were wild caught birds.  Whiskey had been caught 2 years back in November, and just west of here a few miles.  If a Falconer has a "captive raised" bird, they are not allowed to release them.  

Georgie and I watched Whiskey off and on for a week and a half, when he occasionally stopped by the acreage to hunt on his own.  The last time we saw him, he had caught something in the south pasture and sat on our hayrake for a bit.  We are hoping he finds a mate and finds a place to set up house!  Whether that's in the area or further north - who knows?  Best of luck Whiskey!!!

 But hey, it's Spring - lets get out there and enjoy it!!!

 Please treat each other well - we are all in this together. 

It's Almost Here!

 

Eric Harrold and his Red-tailed Hawk "Whiskey"

Had a fun experience yesterday afternoon here on the acreage - Eric Harrold and his dog Daisy and Red-tailed Hawk Whiskey came for a rabbit hunt. Whiskey caught a really large (buck? Forgot to check) Cottontail! Was fun to watch the hunt!

"Whiskety" the male Red-tailed Hawk up close

"Whiskey" on the hunt!

I confess I was so enamored with Whiskey that I completely forgot to get shots of Daisy! (Sorry!!!) Daisy would run through the tall grass here and flush the rabbits out for Whiskey to stoop on. The first bunnies ran to our now giant wood pile - remember the huge tree falling here in October?

A great catch - Cottontail rabbit!

But we got lucky and a large rabbit flushed out of the south pasture, un-nerved by the dog and the hawk. It was caught and quickly dispatched by Whiskey...both Georgie and I got to see this in action!

Eric will clean and butcher the rabbit for Whiskey - birds of prey all need wild meat - Whiskey caught it - he gets it...just like in nature.

Hope Eric comes back as we still have tons of Cottontails!

The first Day of Winter is officially tomorrow!  Then the big day we always waited for as kids - Christmas!!!

I have an announcement of sorts to make for friends that have been on our Christmas Card list for years. I decided this year that I was going to stop creating and printing my own Christmas cards…I’ve been doing our own since 1966 when I did my first cards for my Mom…been doing it every year since!  I decided to finally “retire”!  Ha!!!  

It was actually a hard decision for me but my time and resources are much more limited than it used to be and I need to slow down in certain areas...so I will be posting our Christmas greetings on this blog and through my Face Book pages instead.

That's about 57 years of card designs and printing!  I remember back in the day doing them as linoleum block prints and then silkscreen prints...some cards took 3-4 weeks to print!!!  That's just crazy, but I was a lot younger then!  

Anyway here goes - (Still with our heart felt feelings!)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Be good to one another - we are all we've got!

Friday - Archived Works Day!

 

"Autumn Migration, Red-tail Hawks" 

pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison 

(from a South Dakota private collection)

 

Here's the second posting for "Archived Works Friday”...OK, I realize its Saturday but did post on a couple other social media platforms and forgot (!) my blog!!! This time its a pencil drawing from 35 years ago. As I mentioned before - I'll post a painting, drawing or serigraph (silkscreen print) from the "archive" files of years past...and give a little back story on the work. I hope you'll find it interesting!

 

I had a long, long relationship of just plain awe and admiration for birds of prey...I built my first (and last) “mew” when I was 12 years old, behind the garage in the back yard. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mews_(falconry) My first sidewalk “art fair” drawings were birds of prey, also at age 12. I spent too much time in the timber searching out hawk nests and never grew tired of lying on my back on a hillside along the Lizard Creek valley watching birds of prey soaring on a thermal or migrating through in the fall or spring. While doing so, I did try and squeeze in some experiments with bal-chatri, or "hair umbrella", an old East Indian idea – I carried a small home made one and a “volunteer” English Sparrow (House Sparrow) around in it on my long hikes to watch hawks. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal-chatri) I also devoured “The Falconer's Handbook” by Howard Smith, as nightly reading before bed...

 

I always had trouble drawing things that didn't hold still for extended periods of time (that just wasn't my gift)...Audubon worked from skins that he and his parties “shot” - I couldn't do that! (Didn't want to anyway!). I saved money from my Des Moines Register paper route and eventually got a camera and lenses to get pictures of the birds to draw from...this was in 1962...I'll save more of that for another post.

 

The posted drawing here was probably my first “serious” try for drawing hawks (Red-tails in this example)...I never forgot those carefree days idling on the hillside gazing up and this drawing was prompted by those memories. And although the scenery was very similar, I drew directly from the hillsides and valleys I became familiar with after moving back to NW Iowa, where we've lived for many years now. Hillsides and valleys along the Little Sioux River just south of our studio a few miles.

 

Now we can enjoy the same sort of view here off the studio deck, or a park bench on one of the hillside pastures...full circle? I haven't indulged in pencil (graphite) for a few years, but still admire a good pencil rendering when I see one!

 

(This drawing and other archived artwork can be viewed at - https://morrisons-studio.com/archived-works/)

How Many Days???

Raccoon napping in the crotch of a tree 
photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

It's February and I guess that's a good thing right?  Closer to Spring!!!  I don't mind February so much...its the shortest month of the winter and still looks like winter.  Now March looks like a mixed up month!  Sometimes like winter...sometimes like spring - usually all goofed up and a sloppy mess!

Had a Big old Raccoon in the gate tree this a.m. When Georgie first spotted it, it was rolled up in a ball on a fork in the tree but with the snow turning to a freezing mist it decided to try a nearby hole. The hole it tried hiding in was apparently too small as it kept coming back out to reposition itself...kept hiding when I'd take the camera outside but later showed up napping in another crotch outside.

I know it knows I'm there trying to take its picture, but I just settle for a nap shot and head back inside...hoping it'll stir for the camera yet...

 

Red-tailed Hawk pair hunting in tandem

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

February is a time when many birds of prey begin getting serious...seems early but the Great Horned Owls already have eggs they're sitting on and the Bald Eagles are setting up shop too.  Another local favorite of ours - the Red-tailed Hawks, have been known to set up nesting late in the winter...we had a pair here hunting together behind the barn.  Sometimes one bird would sit and watch while the other dipped around in the pasture trying to stir something up and other times they'd fly together and swoop into the grasses...don't know what they had going there?   Maybe a rabbit sitting tight or a mouse...who knows?

Red-tailed Hawk - close fly-by

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its fun watching things begin to stir since the frigid air has left its mark everywhere...kind of has me stirring myself!

How many days till spring??!!!!!

Drawing From The Neighborhood

"Waterman's Mouth - Summer"

5X7" - color pencil rendering

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I feel fortunate that there are so many things in the "neighborhood" that interest me.  The features of the landscape and the landscape's entirety as well.  Waterman Creek flows past our place in the valley here and is a prairie stream with so much natural and cultural heritage going for it.  It keeps our focus during the winter months with the wildlife traffic following this "trail" up and downstream during all times of the day. 

 "Waterman Bald Eagle"

 © Bruce A. Morrison

The past couple weeks have been filled with Bald Eagles flying upstream in the morning and back downstream during the evenings.  We've found them congregating upstream along the creek and couple miles from here.  

 "Red-tail in the North Grove"

 © Bruce A. Morrison

A couple days ago Georgie and I were watching a pair of Red-tailed Hawks flying low along the fenceline across Waterman Creek.  We have resident pairs in the valley here each year and really love watching them catching thermals during the summer or sitting along the road or even in the grove here at Prairie Hill Farm.  The pair I mentioned stopped together and copulated on an old wooden fence post as we watched...we were very excited to see this because it's pretty convincing we'll have a pair nesting here in the valley again this spring!  Now if we were to see a pair of eagles mate out here in our "neighborhood", we'd have huge cause for excitement!

The color pencil drawing posted at the head of this blog is of our favorite creek - the Waterman.  The drawing is a small study of the creek's mouth where it flows into the Little Sioux River just a few miles south of the studio here.  There is no extreme drama here, in fact I was mentally processing the scene when I first walked in to it and thought, "Huh, so this is how it ends."  I suppose that could be a metaphor for a lot of us!!

A life is complex, interspersed with drama...ups and downs; witness to events, experiences...out of control and sedate.  Think of what this small little creek has seen!  No, I think it's a pretty cool character myself.

The studio newsletter is off and running and it's certainly not too late to subscribe...gain some insight to the work!  You can subscribe at -

http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm

See you in the neighborhood!

Signs Ahead

It felt like summer again yesterday, humid and warm. In nine days we'll have the autumnal equinox upon us and summer will be something we just think back on or ahead to.

Yesterday my oldest grand daughter, Cassie, and I were out scouting around for images. We found Garter Snakes and Red-tailed Hawks (got HD video footage of each)...Turkey Vultures and Wild Turkeys. But one place we frequent had a definitive sign of what was ahead. A saturated hillside of sumac with a couple bales tossed in meant Autumn to me. A pleasing splash of color.

The bean fields all around us are a glorious yellow; they'll only call out for a week or so yet and I should be taking advantage of them, but for now this splash of scarlet has won me over.

For splashes of color and inspiration "here and there", don't forget to explore the Artisans Road Trip (http://www.artisansroadtrip.com) coming up in just 3 weeks! It's October 2, 3 and 4th. You can start here at Prairie Hill Farm Studio if you like...be sure to stop by and say "Hi"!