The Process

American Robin

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Two days ago it was a blanket of snow....yesterday it was 3/4" of rain...its a process, this season called Spring.

The Herons are back in the rookery across the valley...we're not sure how many more are to arrive, or how many here now will move on.  It depends on the season called Spring.  Some Springs can be brutal and some storybook pleasant.  I like a good story, maybe this will be a nice one.

Dark-eyed junco - male

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Many birds have returned to the acreage, like the Robins and the Red-winged blackbirds and Grackles.  Some are gathering to leave for north destinations, like the Dark-eyed juncos and Tree sparrows. 

Black-capped Chickadee

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Our Chickadees are still with us...most Springs they gravitate back to the woodlands down the valley. But many more "visitors" stop by for a few short weeks to visit and we expect them soon!  

Its all a part of Spring...its a process you know! 

 

Getting Closer!

 "American Robin - male"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

It's beginning to get kind of exciting here - our first flock of robins showed this past week and the air has been full of Canada Geese and today, Snow Geese.  As I type - small groups and pairs of Bald Eagles are catching updrafts over the acreage and valley.  Huge flocks of Red-wing Blackbirds are noisily accosting the valley as well, sending White-tail Deer running here and there, being disrupted from their sunny afternoon naps.

 

"Rose-breasted Grosbeak - female"

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

I'm also still working on the birds that I'm longing to see here again in a few weeks...this sketch being a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  This is one bird I really admire up close, for they are a pretty unassuming songbird that seem to really like our bird feeders each spring and summer.  She was a pretty lady and was a fun challenge to capture it's subtle tonality and personality...not easy!

Spring - it's Getting closer! 

 

New Color Out There...

American Robins were having a feeding

frenzy around the studio and yard this morning!

(Click on image for a larger view)

What a busy last couple days here!  Our fist good rain sine June of last year!  We got 2.5" on Tuesday through yesterday, then 4 inches of snow this morning...we were lucky here as we didn't get very much ice.  Those further north and west are really cleaning out of a mess, lots of trees and limbs and power lines down.  We did get covered with pea size hail on Tuesday afternoon, but it melts down to usable moisture just the same!

Even the House Finches are gettin' drop dead gorgeous!

(Click on image for a larger view)

I haven't gotten much done this day except take bird pictures!  Leave it to a snow storm in the spring to bring the hoards in to the feeders!  It is fun to watch and the snow will be gone in a couple days...its spring as usual around here!

Enjoy, it'll soon be hot and humid in the shade!

 

 

Nice Respite!

(Detail from pencil study "Spring Song, American Robin")

© Bruce A. Morrison

 What a great week of weather - a nice respite from the past couple months!  Word's out that we're heading back to "normal" winter stuff, but that's OK - we've been doing alright!

We had our first Robins of spring in the yard here yesterday!  That's kind of a nice shot in the arm for spring fever!  American Robins are always welcome, but there have been population pockets just a few miles south of us, along the Little Sioux River valley all winter...in fact the past few winters.  That didn't used to happen but about a decade or so ago the Waterman Prairie area and south, along the river, began holding flocks of Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and Eastern Bluebirds through the winter months.  They apparently live off of the Eastern Red Cedar berries for one thing.   But I still think of Robins as a harbinger of spring, if not only for old time's sake!

I don't know if I ever posted the image at the blog header before or not? (I'm pretty certain I have.)   It's a detail from a large graphite piece I did years back.  You can view the whole piece by clicking on the small image below of the entire rendering.

"Spring Song, American Robin"

pencil original © Bruce A. Morrison

(from a private collection)

Another wonderful development the past few weeks is a pair of Bald Eagles have built a nest south of here!  We're holding our breath in hopes they'll stay and actually use it; a pair had built a nest just 1 mile south of us along Waterman Creek 3 years ago, but they abandoned it after a couple months.  Hopefully this pair will follow through.

I guess we're not the only ones in the neighborhood with spring fever!

Just wanted to make mention - in the last blog I said I was going to begin a newsletter...a marketing effort on my part from the studio here.  It will be an informative bimonthly newsletter, to keep my collectors, and folks interested in my work, abreast of the newest and latest work, projects, insight on works and subject matter, as well as exhibits and events I can be found at.  You may sign up for the newsletter on my web site...you only need provide your e-mail address...the form to sign up is on this page - http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm or just click on "Newsletter" in the header of the web site.  Thank you!

Take in some sunshine today and enjoy!

Count Down 1!!!

Prairie plants composite from the Pasture

here at Prairie Hill Farm in 2009

Yesterday afternoon, as I was gazing out the living room window in awe at the deep snow still caressing the acreage, Georgie mentioned to me that daylight savings time starts this weekend. That is just amazing to me, but I'm seemingly getting used to everything surprising me this year. How can it be?! Well, get used to it Bruce...that's the way it is!

Happily though, these changes are most welcome! Our first American Robins of the year were in the yard two days ago! The past couple days have had about three dozen Red-winged Blackbirds in the yard as well...this all means things "are" changing for the good!

Even though we've not seen 40 degrees here at Prairie Hill Farm Studio since late November, it has changed from snowing to raining! Messy - yes, but a step in the right direction! This morning we still have maybe a third or a quarter of the 65 inches of snow that has covered us since December, but I can now "see" the daily progress the rain is making...our hillside driveway is now clear!

Last year the pasture here was amazing...this memory has sustained us all winter long. I put together a small composite for this blog celebrating the spring and summer to come. We are now a week and a half from the vernal equinox, but spring has really begun; the small signs now tell us it is here - it will just get better!

Counting down (but already enjoying)!