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A little friend I made a while back 🧡 Mini mixed media collage of a Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula), 3” x 4.5” on paper. Spotting one of their distinctive nests never fails to delight me! It takes about week for the female to weave her nest from whatever strong fibers she can find—grasses, string, weeds, animal hair. The nests are so sturdy that the birds may reuse them many months later, after returning from their winter grounds (which should be starting just about now!!)
Some piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) and American searocket (Cakile edentula), a native annual that provides the birds with shade, protection from the wind, and attracts a smorgasbord of insects for them to eat.
A mama ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) feeding her babies! Their nests couldn’t be any more enchanting—the daintiest cup of grass, gossamer threads, and caterpillar silk, lined with dandelion down. Oftentimes the outside is camouflaged with sequin-sized bits of lichen and scales from plant buds.
Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, bountiful new year! 💓 This one is inspired by the Rocky Mountains, and features: a broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus); Indian paintbrush (genus Castilleja); alpine sunflower (Hymenoxys grandiflora); alpine clover (Trifolium dasyphyllum); and Rocky Mountain columbine (Aquilegia caerulea). Cheers to 2024–let the next adventure begin!
The first collections poster, of some common North American woodpeckers! Each one of which I have had the fortune of seeing IRL too <3
Finished collage! More happy memories from Montauk. A great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), the largest gull in the world, and a common sight on the East Coast. Also pictured, a laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)—a summer visitor to the Northeast, and year-round on the coasts of the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico. And of course, the charming Montauk Lighthouse in the distance!
Just before the holidays, we kept seeing flocks of cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum), usually feasting on crabapples... Apparently they are one of the few North American birds that specialize in eating fruit, and can survive for several months eating just that. Such a joy to see, with their splash of yellow, and the dramatic black “eyeliner”... Many sport a brilliant drop of red on their wings, resembling old wax seals...hence the name “waxwing!”
Another pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). I am forever inspired by Japanese woodblock prints!
