Hobart Urban Nature Preserve, March 21

Hobart Urban Nature Preserve was once an eighty acre farm.  It is in Troy, Ohio, surrounded on all sides by the city.  The barn in this photo is the original barn, now refurbished and being used by the park district.  The barn is off-limits to the public.  The rest of the eighty acres are accessible by trails.

The prairie grasses are shades of tan, rust, and other browns.  Here and there I found Milkweed pods.  The yellow-orange interiors were bright compared to the surrounding foliage.

The park maintenance staff has planted many trees of various sorts.  They are growing but it will still be years before they are mature.  Many birds are building nests in them already.

The main trail is a circle around this pond.  Originally, it was just a low spot on the acreage but it has been deepened and extended.  It is big enough that migrating ducks stop in.  Tom took the following pictures.

(Aythya collaris) Ring-Necked Duck, male on the left, (Aythya affinis) Lesser Scaup, male, on the right

Ring-Necked Duck, male, on the left, Ring-Necked Duck, female, on the right

Here are our old friends, a pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).  Mallards are here all year around if they can find a bit of open water.  We see them every time we look for ducks.  The males are so brightly colored, I never get tired of looking at them.

I Meant to Do My Work Today

The first line of this poem by Richard Le Gallienne has been running around in my mind ever since this beautiful early spring arrived. Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the poem more easily.

I have been painting although I have no painting ready to discuss on this blog. On Thursday, I painted "en plein air" for the first time this spring. A friend and I met at Hobart Urban Nature Reserve. The day was HOT (81 degrees Farenheit)and the sun was bright. On Saturday, two friends and I painted at Andy's Garden, a large plant nursery in Troy. We sat around a display of Bleeding hearts, painted and talked.   Again, I don't have the painting to the point where I want to share it.

When I haven't been painting with friends, I have been walking with Tom at Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary and Charleston Falls. Yesterday, Tom and I spent about an hour on Redbud Trail watching the downy white Great Horned Owlet in the hole in a tree growing in the ravine below the trail. The best Tom was able to get with his Canon EOS was the owlet peeking at him with one eye. The day was cold and windy but sunny.

And here is the owl a bit closer.

For some reason, blogger kept turning the digital photo in the computer sideways even after I had turned it so I resorted to printing a photo, scanning it in and showing it to you via this method. That probably accounts for the poor quality.