Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)

Early this month, Tom took this photo through our dining room window. We both enjoy watching Carolina Wrens. This was one of the first birds I learned about when I began volunteering at Brukner Nature Center in the 1980s. Larry, the education director at that time, identified it by song one day when we were walking in the woods.

Its song is distinctive.  Birders use the mnemonic, "teakettle, teakettle, teakettle" to describe it.   He told me they had been wiped out in this part of Ohio during the cold, snowy winter of 1977-78 and were just beginning to move back up into our area in the 1980s. Since then, Tom and I have had some interesting encounters with the little birds.
 

Tom took this at Stillwater Prairie Reserve. The wren had a nest on a shelf inside the park district's shed.

Since then we have had them nest several years in our garage on a shelf.

One year we were lucky enough to watch four fledglings hopping about in the garage from lawnmower handle to table saw and back to the lawnmower handle as they strengthened their wings. The parent tried to shepherd them toward the opening in the weatherstripping at the bottom of the garage door. Fledglings 1, 2, and 3 quickly found the opening but Fledgling 4 was dense.

Evidently, bird brains are not created equal. The bird would not follow the parent who patiently and repeatedly flew down toward the opening and even walked through it. The bird would reappear through the opening, twitter to Fledgling 4 and then walk through the opening again.  Tom and I must have watched for fifteen minutes.  We even discussed opening the door but we didn't want to disrupt the concentration of the persistent parent.  The persistence paid off.  Fledgling 4 finally followed its parent out the door and into the big wide world. 

Sunny Day on the Stillwater River Trail

A couple weeks ago, Tom decided to take a video of the Stillwater Prairie boardwalk.  I decided not to walk as far as the prairie and stopped at a bench overlooking the Stillwater River.  The spots of sunshine on the gravel made an interesting pattern in front of me.  Though it is not visible in this photo, there is a path between the trees that leads down to the river's edge.

I wasn't sure how long I had to sketch before Tom returned so I elected to start with a Micron pen sketch.  He wasn't back by the time I had finished a general sketch so I put a few watercolor washes on the sketch.



Original sketch

Now I wish I had left it as it was, perhaps only accenting the ink shadows in front of me.  But I didn't.  Here is what I did, in five more steps.  Two and three  are below.  Probably, you can view both of them at the same time so it is easier to compare the two and see what I added or changed.

Stage 2 

Stage 3
                                                                                                          
In Stage 2, I added more detail with the micron pen, defining the foreground shadows, the Virginia Creeper on the foreground trees and the rocks. I started defining the path which is not visible in the photo.  I also added more pen lines to the tree trunk with the overhanging branch and added scribbly foliage for the "weeds".

You will notice that the sketch I drew is different from the photo at the top of the page.  I moved the trees in the background.  The mid distant tree was in the middle as I sat on the bench and I didn't want it to be the focal point.  I moved it to the right. 

I painted that mid distant tree grayer and was immediately sorry. In  Stage 3, I lightened the mid distant tree, and brightened the two nearest trees.  I brightened the Virginia Creeper and added more foliage to the distant tree with the overhanging bough.

ONWARD...

Below are steps four and five. Again, you should be able to view both at the same time and notice the changes.  I started thinking about the yellowish river at this point. I did a lot of experimenting, lightening areas, darkening areas, adding yellows, and greens, taking out yellows and greens, adding Micron pen lines, taking them out.  I plan to paint this river a lot more.  Its color this time of year, an olive green, and its brightness at the same time, are challenging. 

I also continued brightening here and there.  Some day I hope to learn to keep the whites to begin with.  I added a little Chinese white to the closest rock and to the Virginia Creeper.  I worked on the contrast between the far shore plants and the tree with the overhanging bough.

Stage 4

                                                                                

Stage 5

I thought I was finished so I signed it.  But I wasn't.  I lightened and reddened the mid distant tree even more.  I continued to experiment with the river trying to get a glassier look.  I have done paintings I like better but I learned a lot by painting this one.

From the first

...to the last.

The Stillwater River from the Trail...watercolor on 140 weight cold pressed paper...5.3X7.3 inches.

Our Prairie Patch

Twenty-five years ago, soon after I had  begun volunteering at Brukner Nature Center the volunteers went on a prairie tour with Ralph Ramey, who was then working for Glen Helen in Yellow Springs.  He took us on a tour of area prairies, Bigelow Prairie Cemetery, Smith Cemetery and others.  Since then, Tom and I have had a deep interest in Ohio prairies, the prairie plants, and the many butterflies which are found there. 

We in southwestern Ohio were not happy with the excessive amount of rain this spring and now we are not happy about the heat wave.  The actual temperature is expected to be 98 degrees today and with the humidity is expected to feel like 104 degrees.  But the weather this year has been ideal for prairie plants.  The tall ones are over eight feet tall.  And all of them have lush foliage and promises of even more blooms than what we are seeing today.

Here you see me standing on a ladder and I am still shorter than the Compass-plant with its yellow flower at the very top. I've been told that the Compass-plant was named by the pioneers traveling west because the plant aligns the edge of its leaves toward the sun which would have made them pointing westward in the afternoons. This adaptation helps the plant conserve moisture within the leaves.  Tom took this photo about a week ago.

I took this photo this morning. More of the Compass-plant flowers are open.

If you look again at the first photo you will notice a bushy plant behind the Compass-plant. This is a Cup Plant or Indian Cup(Silphium perfoliatum).

I saw the first blooms on it this morning. The leaves, in sets of two, opposite one another, are united at the base and form a cup that holds water when it rains.

Back to the first photo. In front of the Cup Plant is one of the Big Bluestem(Andropogon gerardii) clumps. This is the predominent grass of the Eastern prairies. The plant is named for the blue color at the joints of its stems which becomes more pronounced as the grass matures. Here is its flowering head. It is sometimes called Turkeyfoot because the flowering heads remind some people of turkey feet.

Other prairie flowers which you can see in the first photo are the Purple Coneflower to the left and the yellow Oxeye to the right. We've had to pamper the Compass-plant a bit to give it a good start but the Purple Coneflower(Echinacea purpurea)...

and the Oxeye or False Sunflower(Heliopsis helianthoides)

grow "like weeds". In fact, one of our former neighbors was enchanted with our prairie flowers until he found out what they were prairie plants. Then he dismissed them with the comment, "Oh, they're just weeds." He didn't like them anymore.

Anything that is as beautiful as a prairie plant is a flower to me. I admire their many adapations, one of which is long, long roots. There is often more plant mass below the ground than above the ground. It's no surprise they grow like weeds and no surprise they thrive when other plants shrivel up and die.