A Lovely Beginning
I found four bluebird eggs in a carefully woven nest of fine grasses in our nestbox today. I suspect that there will be five tomorrow, and then the female will begin to incubate them. Waiting until a full clutch is laid ensures that the young birds hatch, grow, and fledge together. Most of the other songbirds that nest here are just getting started or are yet to return. New songs fill the blossoming woods and fields each day – what a lovely beginning for the new season. Tips & Techniques- When painting… Read More
Lasting Construction
The Eastern Towhee is a bird of forest edges and shrubby fields where they scratch around on the ground for seeds, fruits, grains, and insects. I see them occasionally foraging under our shrubs and I hear them frequently in spring and summer calling from the brushy field bordering our property. What I’ll never see is their nest in the wild, which is always well concealed on the ground. Hence, I put the towhee on my short list of nests to pull from the shelves when I visited the NYS Museum ornithology collection… Read More
It never gets old
When bird nests are carefully preserved, they can last a long time. The ones you see here were constructed and collected at least 100 years ago. They eventually found their way into the ornithology collection of the New York State Museum in Albany, where they were carefully wrapped with cotton batting, boxed, and stored in metal cabinets. I was thrilled to get a peek inside recently and be allowed to take out several nests to photograph and sketch. I’ll use the photos in upcoming classes and projects, but seeing the real thing… Read More
Hidden in Plain Sight
Most birds protect and conceal their eggs in carefully constructed nests, in tree cavities or underground burrows, or high on rocky ledges and sea cliffs. Not so with terns. These seabirds nest together in colonies and lay their eggs right on the ground on small islands and stony beaches. Terns make just a small scrape on the ground and the females add beach debris or dead vegetation, shell fragments, or stones to provide some camouflage. The beauty and success of this strategy lies with the eggs and chicks themselves, whose markings blend… Read More
Bird, Nest, Eggs
Orioles sing from the treetops in our yard, their melodic whistles descending from high in the cottonwoods. They have likely woven their intricate hanging nest up there. Hidden by greenery, we are not likely to ever find it. But I like to imagine it, nonetheless. Orioles lay eggs with beautifully scrolled markings and after hatching the young remain nestled inside the pendulous nest for about two weeks. Altogether, bird, nest, and eggs are striking. They made a perfect subject for a recent art class at Winslow Art Center and I like having… Read More
Bluebird Days
I’ve been teaching “Painting the Colors of Spring” for the last few months, which has made me even more aware of the subtleties of color at this time of year. We started with earth colors back in March, took a deep dive into yellows and greens in April, and ended this week with an in-depth look at blues and violets. Right on cue, the bluebirds in our yard finished laying five pale blue eggs, the lilacs and violets are in bloom, and the sky was clear and bright all week. I treasure… Read More
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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