Just thinking about Yellow Warblers can put me in a better mood. I need to remember that sometimes. This is a perfect bird to render in transparent watercolor. All those super-saturated yellows, along with oranges and reds, plus a few … Continued
Green Herons are great birds. As a kid I didn’t really see them often. We lived outside of a small town and were adjacent to a large, vacant woodlot. While we had many birds, it just wasn’t the sort of … Continued
Somehow I never got around to painting a Field Sparrow until now! Seriously, how does this happen? This and my last watercolor, a House Wren, are both common birds that I just never got around to painting before. I’ve done … Continued
Despite the fact that Northern House Wrens are common birds, this is my first time painting one. I think part of the delay was that these particular wrens leave me a little conflicted. Some of their behaviors, such as their … Continued
Connecticut Warblers are exciting birds. I think of them as “15-20 year birds” because I see them so infrequently. I’ve only gotten to see them twice. My first was after about 15 years of birding! The second was almost 15 … Continued
Evening Grosbeaks eluded me for a long time. My first sighting was with my wife at Whitefish Point in Michigan. We also had Boreal Chickadees for the first time. That was an exciting day! Evening Grosbeaks are beautiful but somewhat … Continued
My wife’s favorite warbler is probably the Blackburnian, followed closely by the Prothonotary. I did a watercolor of one ages ago on Black Cherry blossoms that she always brings up as a favorite. Until now, I hadn’t painted one in … Continued
I don’t see shrikes very often. In Michigan they occasionally pop up in the winters. We’ve even had Northern Shrike in our yard twice, which was incredibly exciting. They like to take prominent perches in the open where they can … Continued
I still remember seeing my first killdeer. It was on a dog walk with my dad sometime in the 1972-74 range. We lived near a golf course in a small town in southwestern New York. He liked going for long … Continued
Blackpoll Warblers are great little birds. Due to some quirk in the migration pathways, we tend to get many more here in mid-Michigan in the fall than in the spring. The same goes for their fall doppelgängers, Bay-breasted Warblers. In … Continued