The sketch below shows the trials of nesting season.  A pair of redwing blackbirds have a nest in the lake grass along the shoreline.  I constantly see one of the blackbirds, male I'm assuming, chasing a crow away.  The crow keeps coming back and the blackbird has to expend so much energy chasing the crow! Then one morning, there was a turkey vulture there.  I wondered if the eggs or hatchlings were destroyed.  But the little blackbird chased away this huge vulture.  The vulture did not come back but the crow is around.  Daily, for over a week, the blackbird chases the crow.  I wonder if any survived in the nest, and if not, whether another clutch of eggs was laid.  There is still something there to protect.

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On April 9, I came across a "crime scene" on a snowy trail in Moosehorn WR in Maine.  Feathers were scattered on the trail. I was not sure about the identities of the prey or the predator.  Woodcocks had been displaying for about a week, and the feathers looked as if they could have belonged to a woodcock, so that was my hypothesis. I sketched a few feathers, then looked for and found the bill which was very long and oddly shaped at the end - certainly a woodcock.  None of the feathers were broken.  They appeared to have been neatly plucked. I imagine a mammal would have been messier, breaking feathers or leaving feathers in clumps, so a hawk or owl was most likely the predator.  I looked for signs of an owl's roost but didn't find anything, so I really don't know.

It was fun to play detective and look more closely to try to solve a mystery.

Noticing - Form & Function.  On a recent walk at our local wildlife refuge, I noticed two large patches with multiple 1” holes in the sand, as seen in the photos above. It was startling to see all these holes along the paths, and me wonder who made them and whether both patches were made by the same creature. The refuge has lots of fire ants and also lots of Lubber grasshoppers (who hatch from the ground in early spring) at this time of year, so I guessed that these holes were homes to one of them. But when I looked up ‘ant holes’, I made a fascinating discovery - these crater-like pits appear to be the engineering feat of Antlion larvae, known to be voracious little predators.  I remembered learning years ago about how Antlion larvae hide in wait and feed on ants and other insects that fall into their traps. What an ingenious design! I also discovered that these insects are sometimes called Doodlebugs, because of the winding, spiraling trails they make in the sand when they emerge from their pits!

As a field biologist, most of my work consisted of looking out for specific behaviours. So much that sometimes I forget I don't know everything and some themes are foreign to my scientific comprehension. This class has taught me again the value of asking questions, and the beauty behind it, instead of simply 'knowing' the answer.

Well, I tried your spot sit that you suggested plus still doing my birdsitting out back as well. I think I will drive down next time. I packed my items I wanted to carry in my Audobon field type bag. I have a folding stool so with that in tow and my camera I headed down to the woods edge where a creek flows through close to the woods. The area has a closed sign due to the virus thing. So I just sat by the edge near the roadside. Was a great experience but shorter than I had planned as needed to run back home. That's why I said perhaps I should drive down so no need to rush right back home. I have written my notes and thoughts and sketches in my sketchpad to share.

Sit spot, back yard, small town, eastern NC

April 10, 2020   Mid morning

theme; changes

Observation/ The poor little rhododendron has healthier, more abundant blooms than the first and second spring after it was planted.

Explanation possibilities: the roots are more established; the soil is becoming more fertile secondary to leaf fall, time, ; the rhododendron is responding positively to the wet winter; warmer winters are advantageous to its' growth.

Questions / Will the rhododendron ultimately thrive in its' current location?  Will foliage improve over the spring and summer? Will it actually grow? What modifications would be beneficial beyond leaving the plant site to natures' cycles?

I am, the swans that live not to far from our house now have eggs!  

As a biology teacher, I have for years emphasized the relationship between form and function. We start with simple examples, like the human hand. Then we revisit it throughout the year, whether we are studying the fit of a species in its environment, the structure of the digestive system, or the shape of an individual protein, like ATP synthase in our mitochondria.

I love the idea of revisiting the same sit spot regularly over the course of a year to watch for change over time.

I found that I naturally think for form and function as a theme. I found this wasp on the inside of my window. Not super pumped that it is indoors but it was a perfect chance to journal! I looked at body parts and thought why would they be that shape, why does this wasp have hairs or barbs on its legs. That led me to think of its behavior. Why is it rubbing its legs like that? 

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.