"Allegany Nature Pilgrimage" (moss, lichens, fungus, dragonflies and moths) 5-31-08

This is a continuation of my weekend at the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage at the end of May. This post I have some pictures of fungus, lichens and moss from the non flowering plants hike I took led by Alice Brown.
This is a fungus I've seen growing on my land in Clarence Center NY, in the Adirondack mtns. and at Allegany. It's a fungus I identified as Trametes Versicolor, the common name is Turkey Tail, so named because of the variable bands of color. I've seen it in all seasons which makes it kind of fun to look for, check dead trees and branches on the ground etc. I read on a website that a tea can be made from it and that it's used to fight cancer and hiv. Don't quote me on that but it's what I read, I do know that mushrooms can be very good for you. I wouldn't recommed going out and eating these though...my mushroom book (Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms- Excellent Book!) says that it's inedible because of texture.
This is a flat fern type of moss, I don't know my mosses yet so if someone can help me out here. I have to look for a good field guide, you know...tall, dark, handsome! haha...no really, the kind with pages is fine!
This is a picture of mosses on the side (type?) and in the center is a type of lichen, foliose type I think. I've always liked the cool color of lichens..like the green patina copper gets when it's out in the elements.
Then there was the night I was headed to bed, enhausted from all the hikes and early mornings, but saw this show-stopping Luna Moth! Wayne Gall had a simple white sheet up each night with a really bright light to attract all kinds of bugs. I never imagined I'd ever see a Luna Moth and there it was! Wow! It caused quite a bit of excitment. I definitley have to do a painting with one of those in it. Notice the antennae...so large.
This is a page from my sketchbook, just some quick sketches of the dragonfly talk led by Jeremy Martin. Below is a picture of a dragonfly that just came out of the 'Exuvia', or shed skin. That's what I did the small sketch of above. I have written in my sketchbook that I took a picture of a Springtime Darner...maybe that's the type below.
Well as I said, not too many drawings on this Nature Pilgrimage...I needed the whole following week to stay there and digest all that I learned, and go back and sketch things. Be sure to check my post about Thunder Rocks coming up!

"Allegany Nature Pilgrimage" (Birding and Bird Banding) 6-1-08

This is another 'catch up' post about the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage at the end of May. This post I put up pictures of birding hikes and the bird banding demonstration along with a video clip of the demo.

This was the very first nature hike I went on the whole weekend, it was led by birding expert Frank Gardner. We wound our way through some beautiful woods by a stream, to me it looked like a 'Faerie Haven'. It was considered an advanced bird walk because most of the identification was by bird song. We kept hearing a Blackburnian Warbler up in the trees...ok, this is one of those birds that I'm dying to see. If you remember I did a little painting of one in my sketchbook this winter, click here to see it. Well, I had to leave the hike a little early to catch another hike that was starting soon, guess what everyone in the entire group saw after I left? A Blackburnian Warbler came down to take a bath in the creek!! Oh boy...they teased me a bit because I made such a big deal out of wanting to see one!

This is the 'All Day Birding Hike' I took with Tim Baird as the leader. I was worried that we'd be hiking all day long and I wouldn't be able to do it, but it was actually very pleasant as we took several cars and drove to different locations in the park, then walked. This is a page from my sketchbook, click it too see all my notes on the different birds I saw or heard. I put a little dot in front of birds I heard, and a check mark for ones I saw too. I did a tiny sketch with water-soluble graphite of the lake and hills from where we stood by the lodge, Allegany Park's main office. The water-soluble pencils are by Derwendt and I just love them. You can do a simple sketch when you're in a hurry and just worry about the values, use a water-brush to wet it while you're standing there. In a later post I'll put up the sketch pages with complete lists of every bird and flower that I've seen here and in the Adirondack Mnts. Believe me it's long!!

This is at the bird banding demonstration on Sunday morning. If you've never seen a banding demo please make sure you try to some day, I had no idea it'd be so fascinating! The above picture shows Jerry blowing on the breast of a yellow warbler to expose the breast. It's a way they check for a brood patch or check the general weight of the bird for health.

To catch the birds they raise fine nets up in the early morning and leave them up, the birds fly into them and get tangled but not harmed.This is a hummingbird in the hand, amazing!

Here's a Chestnut Sided Warbler that Jerry is holding, it's amazing how they hold the bird by the upper legs, above the joint I think, and it doesn't hurt it. I've included a video clip, you'll see how casual they are about holding the birds, and get a good look at Bob McKinney holding a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo. Jerry is holding a Catbird, though he seems extremely casual about holding it, believe me they've done this thousands of times and no birds are injured. A funny trick Bob would do with the kids, when he was ready to release a bird, he'd carefully lay it on it's backside on top of someone's head. Then the bird would get it's bearings and fly off...it was really neat! You'll see Bob measuring the bird, blowing on it's breast to look for a brood patch and then he unceremoniously plops it into a tumbler to put it on the scale for weighing. With smaller birds he used an empty pill bottle! Up above on my double sketch page you can see a tiny sketch I did of the Cuckoo in the tumbler. Enjoy the video!!

"Allegany Nature Pilgrimage" (Wildflowers) May 30, 2008

Well where to begin? This is a very late entry about my weekend at the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage, May 30, 31, June 1, 2008. I wanted to make sure I share it with you because it was such a fantastically wonderful weekend filled with great people and plenty of new things to learn about nature. I've decided to break it up into several posts so it's not too long. This one will be about the wildflowers I saw. Below is just one of the fabulous views in Allegany State Park.

I feel giulty for not having more drawings, but let me explain what it was like. From Friday until Sunday you could show up for hikes or classes lead by experts in their field, all day long! There was one after the other, some at the same time, it was so hard to pick and choose which I wanted to go on. I filled 13 pages in my sketchbook with notes about birds, flowers and plants! We were constantly walking as a group so it was very hard to draw, the small amount of sketching I did was while I was walking! Seriously...you have to watch the ground so you don't trip! haha...

This page of my sketchbook shows a drawing I did while on a guided birdwatching hike. It was lead by Tim Baird of Salamanca, he's a retired science teacher who knows more about birds and plants than anyone I know! He has such a wonderful casual manner when you ask questions about everything you see....well um...that was me! I asked him about everything I saw! He was so patient!! haha...must be the teacher in him. Most of the flowers, plants and birds I learned about this weekend were from his walks. Thanks Tim!!

Dwarf Ginseng, shown in the little sketch above, a pretty little woodland flower.

I learned about this flower on a wildflower hike led by Mary Alice Tock, down by the lakeside. It's Cinquefoil, cinque (5) as in five leaves, five petals slightly heart shaped. Mary told us some things to look for when identifying wildflowers: 1. color 2. shape of leaves 3. # of petals 4. arrangement of leaves on stem, and how they're connected to the stem.

This is Clintonia, a woodland lily, also called Yellow Corn-lily or Blue Bead for the fruits it bears. I took this picture up at Thunderocks on my last day...more about that amazing place in another post!

This is Golden Alexander, shown in the sketch I did above while walking. It has a complicated flower head like Queen Anne's Lace, I forget the technical term...I'm sure someone can remind me in the comments.

This very pretty flower is Golden Ragwort, looks just like something that'd be growing in your garden.

This is Star Flower, found in the woods also, like a hidden gem just waiting to be noticed.

And this is a very well known wildflower, Trillium. I was lucky to catch sight of it in bloom here and in the Adirondack mtns.

"Golden Eagle Watercolor" 7-7-08

I just finished this 12" x 15" watercolor of a Golden Eagle yesterday. I started it a few months ago and then put it aside. I used watercolors and a few touches of permanent ink pen. I wanted to leave the edges looking washy so you could definitely see that it's a watercolor, and therefor keep some of the freshness. I stroked the feathers on directly with my round brush to show the pointy shape that the Golden Eagle has to his feathers.

Later...some months I should say!... I sat down to finish it, he's been waiting around too long for me! So I just looked for what needed to be made darker, stronger shadows under feathers to make them start to pop a little. I worked on the eye, the most important part of any painting I feel, I added more golden color then lifted out some highlight area with a damp brush, then when it was dry I carefully scratched out a tiny highlight with a razor blade.

I will have prints available of this painting, without the shipping:
note cards = $5 each (8.5"x5.5")
8x10 hand signed print = $20,
matted 8x10 print = $35,
I'm not sure about limited edition prints yet, I'll wait and see about them.
Please just contact me if your interested, I can take credit cards or personal checks. The original painting will also be available, not priced yet or framed.

A bit more about the Golden Eagle, when I was in college I worked as a zoo keeper in Binghamton, NY at the Ross Park Zoo. My favorite area to work was in the aviary; it was up in the woods on the mountain. Each bird had a cage, of course they weren't big enough, but the zoo has made huge improvements over the years, as so many zoos have done. I never forgot the Golden Eagle(s), there might have been two? All the birds of prey they had were brought there because of injury, some wings, some eyesight. The eagles were huge, and yes, their feathers on their head and breast were more 'pointy' than other birds. It was only at feeding time that I didn't really enjoy it, their diet was fresh killed rats from the lab over at SUNY Binghamton. Ok, Ok...I won't go into details here!...but being a zookeeper wasn't all fun and games!

A little more reminiscing...last night I watched a old movie musical called "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"...ok..so I like old musicals!!...anyways...I noticed the feather the pied piper had in his hat was a very long, black and white striped feather. I never noticed it before, but now it popped out at me, it's a "Lady Amherst Pheasant" feather! We had several types of exotic pheasants also in the aviary at the zoo, one of my favorites was the Lady Amherst...wow, so beautiful! I should do a painting of that one!

Perhaps when I go home for a visit I can do a sketching and journaling day at the Ross Park Zoo where I used to work. It's a really nice little zoo, if you're in the area go visit and tell them I sent you! haha...they won't remember me but it'd be fun. PS. I should mention that they have an amazing little aviary now where you can walk in amongst the birds! It's beautiful, has water features, plants, birds everywhere..some hiding, it's very well done!
Please leave me comments below, I'd love to hear from more of you, as I have readers dropping in from around the world!!

"Oil Pastel Sketch of Northumbria"

This is a 5" x 5" little sketch I did with oil pastels from a magazine cover about Northumberland, England. My friend in Northumberland sent me these great magazines so I could get to know the area a little better, as I'll be visiting it in Sept this year.
The difficulty in the sketch was just that it was so small, but I want to do more on a 5"x5" format so I can get a collection that would look nice hanging together. To do details I used a razorblade to cut angles on the ends of some of my crayons...and used it also to scratch off details on the house. You can especially see it where I signed my initials.

Hope you like it, I can't wait to get there personally and so lots of nature studies and landscapes!

"Iroquois Nature Refuge" 5-25-08

It's a gorgeous day! 65-70 degrees, sunny and breezy. The first journal page is done with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush...I found it hard to get the greens I wanted.
A gorgeous bird, the Black Tern; I took so many pictures of them swooping over the water, with their very elegant coloring. The other picture is a bit more sad but shows the real life of nature, it's a Red Tailed Hawk being chased by Red Winged Black-Birds because he's stolen a youngster from the nest! I saw him land into the tall grasses on the marsh, and noted the huge commotion of the Black Birds. When he took off I figured something was up, and sure enough he was carrying a chick.










I spotted this little butterfly in the field as we walked and I've narrowed it down to two butterflies-either the Pearl Crescent or Gorgone Checkerspot...anyone help me with an ID?

This painting was done with watercolors. I used my little watercolor kit that's tucked into a tiny "Altoids" tin if you can believe it! I'll have to post a picture of that soon.

Some bird photos I took, two of a male Tree Swallow that was sitting by it's nest box. A picture of a Song Sparrow on the left, and a Swamp Sparrow on the right.




















This flower was drawn with a micron pen then colored with watercolor. I had to wait till I was at the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage (more on that later!) to indentify it, showing it to some wildflower experts...they told me it's a Evening Lychnis.
Click here for the link to Iroqouis Nature Refuge.

"Reinstein Woods" 5-23-08

This is about the morning I spent at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve in Cheektowaga, NY. It's from back in May, but I wanted to put it up to keep my posts in order. The very first thing I saw, well heard, was a House Wren...busy little thing! I kept watching it flit around until it showed me where it's nesting hole in a dead tree was. (Don't forget to click on my sketchbook pages to see the enlarged views.)
I did a really quick sketch of a fern leaf and flowers on mint. I looked in my wildflowers book and still haven't found a 'blue' flower, they say it should be pink. I need to find some more books!








May really is the month to see and hear birds when you're out walking! Some of the birds I heard or saw: Catbird, Yellow Warbler, House Wren, Canada Geese, Baltimore Oriole, Mallard ducks, Turkey Vulture, Red Winged Black Bird, Nuthatch, Wood Ducks, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher.






I also took a few pictures of the gorgeous wildflowers including the pink ones with the bee on it, those are Honey Suckle, the pale lavender ones are Dames Rocket if I'm not mistaken. You look for the four petals it has, not five.











I came upon a Baltimore Oriole that had just had a bath in the shallow area of the pond. He was up in the branches at my eye level, just preening and shaking off. I took some pictures with my tiny camera but he was really too far away; but what in inspiring sight, I can't wait to do a painting of one.










Then down by the wooden bridge on the Lily Pond Loop, I shot a short video clip just to show how gorgeous the day was. It was sunny but cool, the lily pads were out, no flowers yet, and birds flying everywhere. Check it out because I have another video clip taken on July 5th to show you soon...lilie flowers in full bloom!