June is "Dickcissel Month"...Just Say'n

 

(color pencil drawing - ©Bruce A. Morrison)

I got an idea last summer, reveling in all the Dickcissels living along our road and pastures. Nothing deep or serious mind you...and selfishly - something just for my own fun. I have to keep reminding myself - if you aren't having fun, then knock off what your doing and get to it...life is too short! 

 

I don't exactly recall why or how I came to this idea? Maybe it was all the perseverance these birds were being educated to each day - forming and raising families...staking their territorial claims and announcing that every day...all day long. Its really quite something to see and hear throughout the summer months.

 

I decided to just have fun and dedicate this artwork to them...all the graduates of Prairie Hill Farm - Class of '22. They wouldn't all pose for their class pictures but I got a few of them...mostly the guys of course, but a couple girls showed up as well.

 

Making this reminiscent of an old country school class composite did present some issues for me.  Color pencil is not a good tool for lettering nor graphics...I almost gave up the silly idea half way through, even before getting to the birds. I should've farmed that part off to someone who is actually "Good" at lettering and calligraphy...like our Daughter-in-Law Amy, she's a "Natural" at design and lettering - just look around our house!

 

The birds were fun - as was the central image representing their "school grounds"...putting everyone in a oval was "not" fun...not an easy shape constraint for my tired eyes and hands.

 

But here's to the "Prairie Hill Farm Summer Academy - Dickcissel Class of '22" - of whom many graduates returned this year and every year, to school their young and bring them up to be proud little Dickie Birds (as someone once called them)!!!

 

(color pencil drawing - ©Bruce A. Morrison)

 

I decided to declare June as "Dickcissel Month", in honor of these little birds and the memory they leave behind after they head south at summer's end.   I still have a glimmer of a seed to sprout a more serious Dickcissel piece someday...maybe a painting, who knows?

 

But I still remind myself not to take things too seriously, and have fun in the moment!

 

Be good to one another out there - we truly need each other.

Summer Days

"Dawn in the Valley"

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

This is a repost from my "A Tallgrass Journal" blog this morning.  Frequently my activities take me through the same avenues in my art work as well as in my interest of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. I've been spending these days exploring prairie remnants, but still along the little creek that flows past our home in the valley.  The tallgrass is entering summer now and there is no holding it back!

One pleasant personal observation this year has been the larger than remembered vocal presence of Dickcissels.  They are even calling from the fences bordering our own yard!  Now this is likely a good opportunity to get more photos of this grassland favorite...but Murphy's Law steps in with cases like this.  If you go out and dig thistle or mow, or pull brome - they sing praises to you!  If you even carry something "looking like" a camera - they leave for the neighbor's pasture!  Little buggers!  But it's nice to hear and see so many here this summer; would be nice if they were actually rebounding a little.  

I'm embedding a very short video here of a male Dickcissel singing from a pasture fence post...many people don't realize what a pretty little bird this is (or don't even recognize what kind of bird it is!)...although the video isn't a "close-up" of the bird, it will give you an idea of how it looks. For a better look at a Dickcissel, you can view a closer shot in a past post in this blog - Here.  If you subscribe to this blog via e-mail the link for the video feed is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwuepAhj36E.  (That link would also allow full screen viewing.)

Enjoy the birds on the prairie this summer!
 

Winter Fare

Sharp-shinned Hawk (adult)

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Had our first winter storm yesterday...well it's not really winter yet, we've got a few weeks before the solstice arrives.  Had high winds and around 4-5 inches of snow.  This kind of weather makes for good studio time...or a good book and a cup of hot soup!  

The neighborhood song birds really come in to the feeders at this time of the year, and become regular guests until spring.  Other birds come "visiting" for the guests, which really can make for some shorts bursts of excitement.  This morning Georgie was over in the studio with me and alerted me to some wild activity out front...a Sharp-shinned Hawk was chasing the Goldfinches and Juncos around the front yard!

The bird landed in the Silver Maple out front and I grabbed the small camera and took a couple shots of it before it launched off into a chase after finches over and past the corn crib, the last we saw of it for now.

"Sharpies" are real cool little hawks, they're the smallest member of the accipiter family in North America.  The bird we hosted this morning was an adult and appeared to be a female.  Females birds of prey are larger than the males...their plumage is the same though.  This adult is recognized by the slate gray back and wing tops, the orange barring on the breast and their red iris.  An immature bird would be brown on back with a streaked brown/buff breast.  If you know your accipiters you'd recognize this bird as a female because the size is basically the same as a male Cooper's Hawk - the next accipiter up the size chart.  The easiest way to determine whether a bird is a female Sharp-shinned Hawk or a male Cooper's Hawk, is to look at the tail of the bird in flight or perched.  The Sharpie has a "squared off" or "notched" effect on the end of it's tail while a Cooper's tail end has a "rounded" effect...they can be a hard call unless you have more time to observe and make a distinction.

I noticed a slight blood stained tinge on this bird's talons and foot pad; I'm assuming it already had break fast and was working on lunch!  

Hawks are one of the reasons I grew to like birds as a kid and they still fascinate me today...my very first commissioned art work (india ink) was of a hawk (Red-tailed), when I was a teenager.  Couldn't imagine a better way to earn a living!  Imagine doing what you like and getting paid for it!  Blew me away.  It's not as easy as that of course, but I feel fortunate to be here and doing and seeing what we have here each day and season!

Here's to the season, and more drama in your life!

Night Noise

Sedge Wren singing (during day time!)

from Maximilian Sunflower 

(Helianthus maximlianii) perch

I've been recording the night's here...audio recording the night noise, it's mesmerizing.  Painting and photographing the natural world is my avocation...appreciating it is my "hobby" I guess you could say.  A personal interest only for the fun and enjoyment of it.

One thing I've not been totally successful in recording is the Sedge Wren here at Prairie Hill Farm.  They've been elusive to photograph as well, but one special characteristic with the Sedge Wren is one of it's calling habits - it sings nearly all night long!  Well, "singing" is a kind way to describe it.

Sedge Wrens do sing during daylight hours too, but I can't get over how they don't burn themselves out?!  When do they ever sleep?!  I "can" tell you when they don't!  Wake up around here at 1, 2, or 3 a.m. and I'll almost guarantee a Sedge Wren down in the pasture or out back, singing away.

I've been trying to record the nights here this summer...I've done bits and pieces in past years too, but the Sedge Wren's voice doesn't carry loudly enough to record well from the house.  I usually stick a microphone out the upstairs window and then go to bed!  That's the lazy way of recording nature!  I have given thought to taking the equipment out and recording outside...I've done it many times but found out the hard way...you don't let electronics run long outdoors here in the summer at night.  Our dewpoints have been tropical here this summer...in the 70's to around 80 degrees.  I fried my parabolic microphone a few years back when I left it outside recording nature sounds.  I got up and went out to turn the tape over in my deck (to record the other side), only to find out the entire set up was covered in a heavy dew...fried everything that was running...a sad state of affairs for a "hobbiest" audio guy, and it took only an hour to do it.  :(

It's wet out there!!!

"Sedge Wren Sunrise"

(oil painting by Bruce A. Morrison)

Sedge Wrens are one of our grassland birds...they prefer tall grass and pasture or prairie or wetland edge...it's their cup of tea.  I did a painting of one from a early sunrise encounter one year...the bird singing it's heart out like it was trying to get a few last notes in before the sun over took the landscape.

I'm going to double post this blog onto the "A Tallgrass Journal" also...it's suitable for both purposes, I'll just tweak it a bit, so if you follow the "A Tallgrass Journal" you'll see the little guy there as well.

Stay up late and give these little guys a listen...one of these days I'll possibly be able to post some audio of them for you...good night from the Studio!

Gathering...

Bobolink - male
(click on images to enlarge)

I've been persuing field material...gathering if-you-will.  Two birds have been playing tag with me this summer; I'd like to do some small studies of them...then perhaps a larger piece of work...painting or drawing.  They've both been here in the pastures this summer - should make it easier huh!  Not.  For some reason these guys move onto the neighboring crop ground where I can't get close to them...private ground too.  So I've been looking on public prairie areas that are larger in size, so they don't feel so squeezed when I'm nearby.  I find birds will eventually get used to your presence if they have some space.

Bobolink - female

The two birds are the Bobolinks and the Dickcissels.  Both are grassland obligates, or birds that require grassland habitat to survive and nest.  Interestingly the Bobolinks are one of the first grassland birds to complete nesting and leave.  They are in the process of doing so right now!  

I was photographing on a large prairie area last week and noticed the males were bunching up...one of the first signs that the second phase of their summer was about to begin.  Then I noticed immature birds...young that had fledged (left the nest).  Yup, there they go!

Don't misunderstand, these birds will still be around for a few weeks but not in a predictable manner.  They seem to move from one area to the next for the rest of the summer (kind of nomadic) , and they seldom call and display as they have the past several weeks.  I miss them already!

Dickcissel - male

The Dickcissels are still calling here...saying their name and declaring territory or just enjoying themselves!  Dickcissel males are the real singers, the females have an insect like buzz when they're disturbed around the nest or young.

Dickcissel - female

Have some image files to go through but hopefully will find some possibilities I can entertain.  Gathering images and material is fun, now comes the hard part!