Well, maybe Winter is Here.
Whether you want to call it Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, or Draco, the Midwest got a lot of snow last week. We have subsequently gotten even more snow, roughly five inches of fluffy powder just a few days ago. All of these things force me to accept the fact that in Wisconsin, the winters are cold, and occasionally the skies get grey with snow.
So today I choose to highlight the little unassuming chickadees that thrive in this climate. Regardless of the temperature, these little buggers swoop in and out of bushes, snow covered or open, relaying their strong opinions to anyone around if the feeders haven’t been filled yet that day. They may be small, but they sure have a lot of character.
Oil pastels on dark paper, illustration markers on a mini canvas, and a good old digital photo. There are many different ways to present the same image, I’m glad I have the chance to play with them all.
Next, I’ll try something that’s not a bird…
These gregarious guys are Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Dendrocygna autumnalis. I’ve seen them a few times, and on each occasion, I had to check to see that I wasn’t going nuts. After my internal double takes finished, I came to the conclusion that I was indeed seeing what I thought it was that I was seeing.
Ducks. In trees.
This doesn’t seem like a particularly odd sight until you think about it for a second. So do that. Think of a duck. Now, what did you just think of? Maybe you thought of a flock of floating things swimming all in a row, maybe dipping their heads under the water to get a nibble to eat, maybe you thought of a squat little things huddling on shore, or if you’re a hunter, maybe you thought of a pair of flapping wings hauling tail from lower left to upper right. But did any of you think of a duck, in a tree?
Well, maybe you did. Wood ducks, which are pretty common in North America, also hop around wooded areas, and for a good reason. Would you rather have your babies all exposed on the ground where the nice predators could come eat them the moment you waddle away to go pay a phone bill, or would you rather squirrel them away in a cavity nice and high up in a tree trunk so the salivating mean carnivores would let you run your errands in peace?
If it was me, I’d be up a tree.
I still think it looks weird.
what Was, what Is, and what Will Be 