I think that I'm starting to recognize some of the "themes" in nature more often, but I would like to improve on seeing them more easily. I think if you can recognize themes easily, you can see unique things about different plants and animals to make them more distinguishable.

It has been pretty cold here in Colorado and I haven’t started doing much walking out yet so I did some drawing that were presented in our course just as practice exercises. Can’t sit outside for long and the higher country still has too much snow.  I am so looking forward to taking my sketchbook up a high meadow very soon to sketch some of the beautiful wild flowers we have here.  Some birds are here already.  Need to take some pictures are draw from them “inside”.  April should be better.    

this topic was very useful to me as a biologist always wondering WHY?

At this time of year, I enjoy seeing the patterns of the leaves on the ground that fell last fall. There are different colors, the curves or the points of leaves. Some of the leaves are darker than others, and the fact that they aren't crunchy anymore and as the light filters through the still bare trees it makes for an interesting blanket on the forest floor.

Patterns of behavior.   Here in south-eastern Australia , on our property, the Australian Wood Duck (not related to the American Wood Duck) bred several months ago and birds are now congregating  into larger groups. However  this week a pair with one small duckling is in our yard.  Question 1. Is this early breeding for next season or late breeding for the last? According to references, in south eastern Australia breeding season is July to October, but up to December whereas in north eastern New South Wales it is December to April but can be all year depending on rainfall and growth of grass. Early clutch size is 10--11 , later clutch size is smaller, averaging 4.   Question 2.Are these birds from northern areas rather than locals? Have they left the drier north for the damper south? I will not know the answer to this, but I love looking things up. Comparison by quantity. I know that Australian Wood Ducks are not as numerous this year because I haven't been consciously avoiding stepping on their droppings on the paths and lawns.

Yesterday my daughter and I went for a long walk to get out of the house, fresh air and exercise. We have been on Covid-19 lockdown for over a week now. We took the art supplies with us and did landscape drawings. We were inspired by the moody clouds over the mountains at first but the real observations we made during our walk was the transition from winter to spring. There is still snow on the ground, the meadows are boggy with snow melt, making a thick mud that you don't want to get stuck in so we had to stay on the path. The birds were singing and I even saw a big black fly - but he flew away before I could sketch him. Not sure if any of you out there are Gabriel Garcia Marquez fans...but I think this little sketch/painting should be called "Nature Love in the Time of Corona Virus"...  

An earlier exercise that I reallly enjoyed doing.  

This is another sit spot day.  Went to a beautiful beach up the coast to get out of the house for a while.  I have not been able to make the photo thing work for days but today,it worked again.  Computers sigh! Anyhow, I continue to work through all the exercises and to enjoy the process.   I find I am not so interested in the scientific inquiry portions as I am so focused on drawing.  But I do work through them all and find that it does indeed pique my interest and sharpen my observation skills so it is all to the good. I enjoy looking at the work that others are doing and am finally getting a handle on how the submissions thing works.

I have leftover items as the result of this lesson.

During a walk in a enviromental educational area I came across the track of a wild boar. I assume it was a wild boar since the distribuition of the other ungulates is far, and their number is not increasing as wild boar. Giving a simple justification. Also there were signs of rooting nearby the footprints. To my surprise the dew claws were absent in every footprint, and some asymetric hoof prints were found. This break my mental pattern for the species. I took pictures of those and created an entrance in my journal. I also add a book reference to compare with what I saw. This made me ask some questions that are also visible in the picture. 

I’ve noticed that some birds show up alone at my backyard feeding station while others come in a small flock. Some birds will forage on the ground under the feeder only, some only on the feeder and some will do both. In this picture I’ve compared some differences between the Baltimore Orioles and the Northern Cardinals that visit each day.

Dear very good teacher, themes in nature?   A true story Last week I was visiting my 94 year old mother in law for her birthday in Orlando Florida. I went for a walk on a Sunday (9 AM, bright cool day, recent cold front, blue sky, T 60 or so) morning in the wetlands, drainage area, canal system which reflects close to what would have been in Florida prior to development. Walking slowly I noticed something swimming in the water. Initially I thought it was a muskrat. It eventually came out of the water and I could see it had a small fish in its mouth. It ate that one and caught another, about 12 inches long. This attracted a great blue heron who immediately came over and followed the otter around, from one pond to the next, fishing in the shallow waters of the pond-culvert system. I could see the Heron catch some small fish as they swam into the shallow water to escape the swimming otter in the deeper water. It even caught a baby alligator and carried it around for a while. As the otter would move, so would the otter. When the otter brought a fairly large fish (24 or 30 "long) to the bank to eat, the heron came out and stood watching about 5 feet way. The otter showed no interest in the otter and the heron appeared relaxed but always watching the heron. I have more to tell, but long enough.  All of this took place a few hundred yards from a 5 thousand home development.  People walking in this area are common. The otter and heron both saw me, in fact the otter came over to visit me, snarled, showed his teeth and kept swimming. Several people walked by me, took no noticed, even if I pointed. I noticed if I had a low profile, I was ignored by the birds, otter, even by the people. This wet land is connected to several thousand acres of connecting waterways intertwined between suburban developments.  I invite the reader to  address the themes.  Enjoying the course, Lou  PS, I have seen several otters in the past in Maine, all for a split second,never observed one for 45 minutes or more.

I went to Sierpe with The Birding Club of Costa Rica. We went to a farm where king vultures nest. Usually, king vultures are only seen soaring high in the sky, so it was a privilege to see them up close. There was an adult perched in a tree, and a juvenile down on the ground with some black vultures. They were eating a pig head the farmer had put out for them. While this is a working farm, allowing tourists to come and observe the vultures and have a meal boosts the farm's income. We spent a long time observing the juvenile's behavior. He, or she, was much larger than the black vultures (I looked it up: 32 inches vs. 25 inches). The king vulture repeatedly spread its wings over the food in an attempt to keep the black vultures at bay. The king seemed to be getting more of the snack than the black vultures. Many questions came to mind. Why is the juvenile black, while the adults are mostly white? When does the plumage change? When does the juvenile grow the orange lumps on the beak that the adults have? Why do king vultures have smooth heads while black vultures have bumpy heads? Why is the king vulture's beak so much thicker and stronger looking than the black vultures? Is it a good thing that the farmer is feeding them? Were we disturbing them? (It did not appear so. We were far enough away that we needed binoculars to really see the details. I took photos and drew this scene from a photo.) Will I every really understand chiaroscuro and be able to express it in my drawings?

My friend Roxanne and I are always trying to learn from what we see and ask ourselves questions about forms and functions.  I’ve been focusing a lot on lichen lately, and have begun to observe the different ways the lichen reproduce.  Some use apothecia through which they produce and release spores, some use soredia (crumbly-looking bundles of algae and fungus cells that they shed – which then go on to form another lichen), some use isidia (structures that look like eyelashes on the edges of the lichen)… and some use a combination of those structures. I used to think of lichen as fairly “commonplace” somewhat “simple” structures, but observation has shown me how complex and varied they are.  I’ve been using a macro attachment for my cellphone to observe some of the deeper details and structures of lichen.  Here’s an example of what Bark Rim Lichen, Lecanora chlarotera looks like to the naked eye and to the macro attachment: To the naked eye,the lichen looks like white-wash on the bark.  But using the macro attachment, I was able to observe the apothecia (cup-like structures used for spore formation) all over the lichen's surface.  

I always considered myself an observant person but now I'm observing in more ways.  I notice a change or something different that stands out.  I have more questions!   I've been a birder but now I'm noticing the trail in a different perspective.  I see trees are all different colors (winter) of brown and gray.  How the green of pine trees really stands out and how a larger pine is a much darker green.  The bottom of a tree is dark gray and then lightens as it reaches the sky with a pale gray.  Then the sun comes out and everything changes!  Theres a shadow of branches.  The sky appears darker in the distance above the trees but straight up it is a bright carolina blue!

I've been setting up bird feeding areas around my yard, we have a very large lot in rural NY and we have a lot of birds coming to my feeders.  Alas, the squirrels have located my bird diner and have invited themselves to come and partake.  I thought that if I also provided them with their own feeders they would narrow their choices to their own table.  I'm including an unfinished sketch I started a couple days ago.

I'm a beginning eBirder as I take this Nature Journaling course. One thing that I've observed is that the Black-throated sparrows here have a lot of brown on them. From the on-line photos it appears the adult males are primarily gray. Maybe I'm only noting juveniles, but even the bigger, more dominant birds have brown around their necks and onto the back. They flit around quickly and are very shy so I haven't gotten close enough to document with either my cell phone or a drawing, but I hope to - so I can figure out exactly what it is I'm seeing.

I went back to a sketch of skunk cabbage that I had observed on 12/31/19. This is the first plant to come up in our wood but the sighting was earlier than usual. I hypothesize that it came up early due to a mild winter, or is it evidence of the bigger issue of climate  change? The warm temperatures may make it easier for the plant to sprout because it doesn’t need to expend energy to melt snow around it (which I have observed previously). This raised questions: is climate change shifting growth patterns? How does the plant melt snow around it and will it grow faster if it doesn’t need to do that?

We put out apples for the deer and two deer show up on a regular basis. One is reddish coloured and the other has lots of black . The reddish one allows comes first. The darker one waits until the other finishes and moves away before approaching the apples.  I wonder if the reddish deer is dominant so it eats first and decides when it is safe to eat and when it is time to leave. I have heard that darker deer live in swampy areas but these two are travelling together so why is one so much darker. Is it younger?

The squirrels chase each other a lot this time of year. Is it territorial or breeding season? Are they chasing each other away from their food stores that they were furiously digging in the fall?

Noticing change: I was observing these birds the last four days. This is the biggest group I have ever seen. They come in the afternoon and perched in a tall bougainvillea with pink flowers. Why came so many birds this year? Are they looking for food or a place to nest? Why do the come in the afternoon (at 4:00pm) and perch on this particular plant? Maybe because it is fresher late in the afternoon?  I did a little research and found out that they eat seeds, grains and insects, but they do not come to my garden looking for insects.

I observed out my kitchen window this morning as it was much too cold to sit outside.  It was a balmy 9F with a strong wind.  I am continually amazed at the resourcefulness and resilience of birds like Chickadees, Titmice, Juncos and Sparrows during these arctic blasts.  They are so small and their down and contour feathers do not seem enough to keep them from freezing on days like today.  Yet they continue to fly, grab seeds, look around tree trunks and wood piles for overwintering insects.  A few young male turkeys arrived this morning and I had questions about why-we have not seen any turkeys since early summer 2019.  

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This is a journal entry from a day at the Ruby Lake Wildlife Refuge in Nevada.  I've had many "firsts" in terms of bird sightings here and today presented another first in the wild.  I observed a large group of Trumpeter Swans; observed several groups in flight and depicted these two from a picture that showed the flight pattern I observed.