Myriam

I started this part of the course in early December and the most remarkable thing I had noticed recently in nature near me was the large number of Long-Tailed Ducks that had arrived on Lake Ontario in mid-November. When I noticed this, I also noted that the many, many Double-crested Cormorants that nest and fish on the lake near Burlington were mostly all gone. Why? If Long-Tailed Ducks and other fishing ducks can fish in the winter, why can't cormorants? The first image that popped into my mind was of a cormorant on a rock or tree stump near water with wings outstretched. So my first possible explanation is that cormorants cannot survive when air temperature is below freezing, even though there is open water for fishing, because they don't fully waterproof their wings with preening oil like ducks do. When they stretch out their wings, they are drying them. Then I wondered how the cormorants that lived in Vancouver, British Columbia dried their wings when it rained for 3 or more days in a row in the winter. I suppose wet wings aren't a problem if the birds don't need to fly and as long as the temperature is above freezing. I also thought about what Double-crested Cormorants and Long-Tailed Ducks do when they are not fishing. Long-Tailed Ducks spend all their time on water, even when sleeping, whereas cormorants stand or sit on shores or perch in trees. This might affect the two species wintering location choices. While doing a bit of research on cormorants, I learned that they are not considered waterfowl. Waterfowl, like ducks and geese, are in the Galloanseres clade but cormorants are in a sub-clade of Neoaves called Aequonirthes, or "core waterbirds", along with Penguins, Tubenoses, Pelicans, Storks and Loons. Furthermore, recent phylogenetic research suggests that cormorants belong in a family called Suliformes rather that in Pelecaniformes.

I chose my dining room as my sit spot. It was interesting to observe familiar objects more closely. Drawing the reflections in my salt grinder was a new experience and so was drawing a leafy plant. I thought I might get bored but the time flew by. Both the drawing challenges and the discovery of new shapes were quite captivating.