The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Nature Journaling and Field Sketching › Noticing Themes in Nature
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I was observing and drawing on my front porch after a couple days of rain. Birds kept visiting the puddles to drink and a few of them were taking a bath! Pretty cool. I also watched a Black Phoebe catching insects.
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On a kind of rainy week I made observations on how a bean pod dried, twisted, and changed over 4 days time; then observed some shells I had had on my desk and wondered how their varied forms contributed to their function in their environment. Also I continued to work on light and shadow. My writing is messy, and I have difficulty integrating it on the page with the drawings in a useful and illustrative way. Using a pen seems to help a bit.
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Beautiful rendered bean pods. I've been seeing a lot of pods on the ground lately from trees which I think are Honey Locust. Since seeing your drawing, I've been thinking about what they look like inside (which I finally found out yesterday) and of maybe drawing one using your drawing as a reference for how to set up the pod and for the shading. I like the way you captured concave and convex shapes.
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Yesterday, I tried to draw a few broken seashells that I keep on my desk. I could not make the bivalve appear 3 D with shading. I titled it, "flat seashell". After seeing yours, I am going to try again. Thanks!
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I thought this was an interesting example of both patterns (rings of Purple Tooth shelf mushrooms), and also energy flow of decomposition. The mushrooms had obviously been on the wood for a long time.
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I decided to do some observations of the pattern on the side of a mountain. All along one face, the erosion of the loose shale rock creates a vertical pattern. I was struggling trying to draw it with pencil and was not happy with how it was turning out. I finally decided to bust out my watercolors for the first time! I was really pleased with the way that I could show the light and shadow of the pattern with watercolor.
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I looked for patterns in the river sediments in gravel bars.
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One thing I want to practice is slowing down. Doing spot sits instead of just walking or running or working on a field drawing and then moving on. The spot sit can definitely help me see deeper and see more interesting details that I would miss otherwise. For instance, I did a spot sit at a harbor near my house and it wasn't until the very end, 15 minutes into the sit, that I noticed some type of insect or bug dancing around on the surface of the water in front of me. There were three or four of them and they were making great ripples on the water. They looked as though they were skating. In terms of themes, I want to make sure that I don't draw conclusions. I can hopefully do this by noting in my journal when I'm making an observation and when I'm inferring something, that way I can check my inferrence later or i can come up with alternative inferrences to my initial one. Fun to ask follow up questions too.
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I made an indoor observation - and ended up with a term paper on ladybugs because I went on to research the answers to my many questions! Why and how do they enter my house each fall? What is their purpose in the great outdoors? As a result, I am now less willing to rid the house of these beetles who have chosen our windows and ceilings as their hibernating spot for the winter. As long as they don't wake up and land in our soup pot, they can stay put until spring!
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This is page 2 of my journal entry on lady beetles, where I have had the fun of answering my own questions.
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From a fall walk. Why are maple trees blazing orange while other trees highlight yellows and browns?
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On one of my walks on a bike trail, I found a Milkweed seed pod. From one of the pods were still three seeds that appear like parachutes ready to launch in the next strong wind. From this dried flower, I wanted to find out what fed on this plant and how it fit in the cycle of life. It became how important this plant was to the Monarch butterfly that is on decline. I plan on continuing my research to see about planting this flower. I know it can be poison to animals if eaten in great amounts, but I do not have domestic animals and would like to encourage butterflies. What other plants can I plant that will help wildlife?
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I love this time of year when the leaves change and I especially love the Spindle tree. The branches with their tiny pink flowers and leaves make fantastic table dressing for thanksgiving. There's one growing in the field where my horse used to be. He'd trim the tree back regularly. I always wondered why and I still do as apparently it's toxic! He passed on much later and not at all because of the Spindle tree. I also learned when researching this plant that the branches are burned to make fusain or charcol sticks for drawing!
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I have gone down to the river to do a sit observe a couple of times now. It is pretty enjoyable, but I have a hard time pulling away from the big picture to concentrate on the small stuff. Anyway, I've been a lot more observant of the heron that lives close. I've scared it away so many times, and am hoping by sitting quietly It'll come into view. This exercise is helping me to be aware and learn about the Herons' habits so I'll learn more about my neighbor!
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I do not yet have any journal sketches that reflect one of the themes. I do, though, notice the natural world on morning and afternoon walks with my husband, and often when looking out my kitchen window or from our back deck. Our home abuts a tidal salt marsh that is protected as a nature preserve. Our walks usually take us on a path through the preserve or on a quiet road along side a mill pond that drains to Long Island Sound. There is much to observe, especially when we slow down and make the time to inhale our surroundings. Thursday morning I noticed close to one hundred ducks swimming in the Mill Pond, almost all of them moving in the same direction. Gradually, a bunch would turn 180 degrees and ascend in flight. Maybe they were swimming with the tide, or preparing for flight by swimming in one direction to give themselves enough of a runway for taking off in the other direction. And that had me wondering if there is any intentional synchronicity to floating en masse? Knowing that they do not ride the currents as other water fowl do, does wind direction impact how ducks prepare for flight? What is the relationship of this large group of ducks to one another? What is the deal with duck families? At the start of our walk, while still in our neighborhood, we passed a tree whose branches formed an almost perfect bowl. The top half of the tree was barren of leaves; the bottom half had yellow hued leaves. I wondered if the weather impacts the canopy first because it is the most exposed. How does temperature and other weather impact the location and rate of leaf fall? Stopping to pause, observe and wonder is yoga for my senses and mind, and ultimately for my body. I have always stopped to pause and observe; adding wonder to the mixture gets my thinking juices going. And when I begin to bring my journal with me those moments will be all encompassing.
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I started to walk and wound up observing five deer in the woods. I had to turn around but it was fun.
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I have been fascinated by the nuthatches (at least two) that have been visiting my sunflowers. I have so many questions! 1. They’re here, in the suburbs, separated from forest by miles of orchards and tomato fields. What are they doing in my back yard? Possible explanations:
- they’re young and lost and exploiting any food source they can.
- They normally live in fir forest and there’s a fir nearby. Maybe that attracted them.
- I’ve just read that they will travel if their habitat is damaged. Last year there were massive fires throughout the state, including the nearest fir forest. Maybe they are climate refugees.
- Maybe they also eat seeds.
- Maybe they’re caching seeds in hopes of generating bugs.
- Maybe they eat and cache seeds.
- Clearly they can exploit food the finches can’t.
- One theory is that they can find insects hiding in bark better from that angle.
- Do they also eat fir seeds? Is there something about, say, perching on top of a fir cone and working downward that would make it easy to get the seeds out?
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Because it was a wet, grey day, I chose to observe the outdoors from indoors, from all four directions. North: Up the hill, I see a chipmunk, my old 'frenemy', hanging along my - or is it his - stone wall. I can see his neck jerking, so I know he is sounding the alarm to someone out there. Since the feeder is down by 2", there will be lots of sunflower seeds spilled onto the grass below. He'll head over soon. South: Wispy clouds drift across my view of Mt. Sunapee (NH). Despite the weather, it is clear. East: The northern facing tree bark is covered with lichen. What I hoped was a hole turned out to be a patch of dark green moss. West: Clouds are hurrying North along the treetops of our tall white pines, 11 of them. the Western sky has lightened up, giving a peachy cast to the 4:00 ending of day # 3 of Standard Time.
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I like the way you write over the water colors for each scene. Nice!
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@Craig Thank you, Craig! I realized that I placed this entry under the wrong assignment! It should have been in"Opening Your Senses". Not sure how to switch it back to that spot, so I now have two submissions in "Themes In Nature". oh well!
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I found this stinkhorn mushroom in my front yard. Question: what is the purpose of the nipple like opening which seem to be sealed with a gel like substance? Is that where the spore slime is discharged? The purpose of the odor is to attract flies, and it was very effective. The surface of the cap was sticky, but also deeply grooved with a net pattern of sharp ridges and shallow valleys. To keep slime from washing off before it had a chance to be picked up by fly feet? Although well past prime, there was still evidence of a lacy indusium. My field guide suggested this was to help non flying insects access the spore slime. I was intrigued by the variety of flies, and that they were non competitive, and seemingly unaware of each other. Why was Stinkhorn solitary, but the tiny brown mushrooms two feet away in a group of 50 to 70.
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This is really fun. I love writing down my observations, explanations, and questions. I haven't figured out my style yet, but hopefully I will before the end of this class.
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I really enjoyed this project - I saw more of the intricate details of the plants then I would have . Thanks Chris
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I am at a conference in Colorado; it is always weird to go artificially fast (airplane) from the Southern Appalachians to the Rockies. I sat in the Vail Public Library for 30 minutes and watched snow accumulate on trees along a ravine. It was a very enjoyable moment. Changes: how the conifer branches took on the snow (becoming more weighted down, etc); how the snowflakes went from granular and small while I was walking outside to large and fluffy while I was sitting inside observing. I asked myself questions about human impact on the space I was observing. Did this ravine always exist in tis present form, or did the road/town development change its shape/volume of water going through it. There is a footbridge with culverts over the creek. Which plants/animals have thrived from humans and which have not?
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I have noticed that the birds in my yard are most active in the morning and only a few are active later in the day. The chickadees and a wren are more bold, the sparrows stay close to the trees and are only visible in the morning. Are birds like us, needing breakfast after a long night of no food? Where do the sparrows go for the rest of the day ? Why are city sparrows so bold and my gold crown and white crowned sparrows so shy? Do birds have different personalities?
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