Claire
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Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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When you see burrowing owls in winter I assume they go elsewhere to breed. Do they stay in burrows when you see them do they roost?
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To find out where to look, read about a kind of owl that you might see where you live and find out what types of trees they like to roost in and look for them. Many owls like to roost close to the trunks of their favourite trees for shelter from crows who can sometimes give away the owl’s location by flying near them and harassing them with vocalizing. Also there are usually white spots left on the trunks, branches, or on the ground, where the roosting owls defecate.
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I went on a guided owl trip to Amherst Island just outside of Kingston, Ontario some years ago. The group were able to go into a very thick grove of pine trees, one at a time, so as not to disturb the owl which was roosting there, a long-eared owl. On the same trip we saw a saw-whet owl. There is a great place to bird watch in Ottawa, where there have been Great-horned owls nesting in some years, but sadly, once the location of such a nest is publicized, trouble follows. I was lucky enough to see some of these owls, but in the second year of nesting, vandals killed them. That was a difficult lesson for birders in our area to learn and when screech owls nested there in subsequent years, more care was taken to keep the whereabouts of the roosting and nesting sites out of the news. Even fellow birders were not encouraged to have a look.
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With gesture drawing, I noticed a lot of details that I would probably have perceived as stereotypical. For example the eyes of the adult fox were not round, but more of a line, a squinty kind of look most of the time. Also I noticed how bushy the adult's tail was in comparison to its molting coat. I wondered if the bushiness of the tail was because the fox could still use it to keep warm when curled up, if the weather turned cold, which I imagine it can in Alaska. I noticed that the coat of the kit was still filled in and not molting, probably because it is young. It may not molt until much later in the season, or not at all til next spring.
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This was a very good exercise to improve hand/eye coordination! Whew! I was constantly erasing and adjusting to make the proportions better. -
I have only seen turkeys during the cold weather at my house. They are coming to the feeder and to take advantage of the shelter near my back door where a fence goes out perpendicular to the wall of the house forming a place where the sunlight is strong in the afternoon. Last year there were few turkeys, and only one or two came to the feeder. This year has been somewhat warmer weather overall and I have seen no turkeys yet. However, there has been blasting and construction in the land below the hill on which I live. This land was formerly an air base, then it was deserted for several years (giving wildlife a chance to take over), and now with all the activity, there is less motivation for wildlife to live there.
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This is an ecological phenomena that I came across in Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) on a canoe trip. It was 2011, just about the time I began to draw and paint, so I was just taking photos of cool things like this. This is on an island in Georgian Bay and the pool was made by wave action working small stones in a pit which I imagine were most effective during the winter storms and similar to ones I had seen in rivers were the current was accomplishing the same job. The stones scoured out more and more of the base stone and could be seen in the bottom. As well, the pond above in the picture contained frogs, being just the right environment for them. The pond was no doubt the result of rain water being contained in a low spot. I visited this place in subsequent years and noticed that due to lack of rain that year there were no frogs. I often think about this place and wish I had been nature journaling earlier in my life!
This was a very good exercise to improve hand/eye coordination! Whew! I was constantly erasing and adjusting to make the proportions better. 
This is an ecological phenomena that I came across in Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) on a canoe trip. It was 2011, just about the time I began to draw and paint, so I was just taking photos of cool things like this. This is on an island in Georgian Bay and the pool was made by wave action working small stones in a pit which I imagine were most effective during the winter storms and similar to ones I had seen in rivers were the current was accomplishing the same job. The stones scoured out more and more of the base stone and could be seen in the bottom. As well, the pond above in the picture contained frogs, being just the right environment for them. The pond was no doubt the result of rain water being contained in a low spot. I visited this place in subsequent years and noticed that due to lack of rain that year there were no frogs. I often think about this place and wish I had been nature journaling earlier in my life! Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)