Plant ID challenge
Test your skill at identifying plants in winter without the help of colorful flowers and leaves. Answers will be posted on April 23.
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
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Hi everybody, each week I (Sean Kent – MABA’s education and camp director) deliver a live online illustrated lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove in Canton. I love nature and am infinitely curious with what is going on natural world. I am an educator, naturalist, accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, and field biologist with expertise in native bee biology, species interactions, and ecology in general.
This post contains additional resources that correspond with the lecture, but might also be of interest to readers of Taking Flight in addition to the residents of Orchard Cove. Please contact me ([email protected]) if you or your organization/residence might be interested in live online illustrated lectures, including lectures on The Secret Life of Backyard Birds and Native Bees and other Pollinators. Be well and safe.
During our Nature Notes from April 10, several participants in the lecture expressed interest in learning more about how to identify bird songs. Here are a few references that will help with to learn bird songs this spring.
How To Listen To Bird Song—Tips And Examples From The Warbler Guide from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This article contains the three questions to ask about a song: (1) What Is The Sound Quality Of The Song?, (2) What Is The Pitch Of The Song?, and (3) How Many Sections Does The Song Have? It’s a really great introduction to learning bird songs along with great visualizations of bird songs.
How to Start Identifying Birds by Their Songs and Calls from National Audubon
Start Using Spectrograms to ‘Read’ Bird Songs and Calls by National Audubon
For more bird songs and visualizations, please go to the bottom of the page.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on April 21 and April 22. Here is more information from NASA.
Enjoy our Nature in a Minute about an Osprey catching lunch.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
We are excited for our third installment of our Nature Story Time video series, so even in times where we need to be isolated, we can still be together. We hope to bring you a nature story time each week along with a little art project or nature exploration that you can do at home.
Please comment and let us know what stories you’d like to hear, what you like about the program, and most importantly how we can improve. If you missed it, our second nature story time was a Curious Garden. If you missed it, our first nature story time was Little Bird.
Our third story is Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klaussen. During these times of being isolated, it is restoring to go on nature adventures and find the spectacular and little treasures in nature right outside your door, on the sidewalk, and in your neighborhood. Enjoy the story.
Today we’re going to make an art project all about an animal that loves to dig: moles! Moles eat all kinds of insects that live underground. To find those insects, they dig. A lot! Some moles dig up to 150 feet of new tunnels every day.
To do all that digging, moles need big, powerful front paws. They use them like shovels. Where are the eyes? Moles do have eyes, but they’re black and very small. Their fur is also very dark. That makes it very hard to see their eyes.
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own mole:
Step 1: Prepare your paper
Cut your piece of paper in half. It doesn’t need to be perfect. We’re going to cut the mole body out of one half and the paws and nose out of the other.
Step 2: Make the body
Use a pencil to draw the body of the mole on one of your pieces of paper. Moles have big, powerful shoulders to help them dig, so the body should be wide. Cut out the body.
Step 3: Draw the whiskers and paint the body
Use your white crayon to draw whiskers on the mole’s face. You won’t be able to see the whiskers yet, but when you paint the body, they’ll show up white. This is because watercolors don’t stick to crayon wax. Mix up a nice, dark brown with your watercolors. I used the darkest brown on my palette and added just a little black. Paint the body with long, wide strokes. Don’t worry if the paper curls up a little! Mine did when I first painted it, but it flattened out as it dried. Set the body aside to dry.
Step 4: Make the snout and paws
Take the other half of your paper. Use your pencil to draw a triangle for the snout. I made the corners of mine round. Draw a big paw with five long claws. You can draw your second paw now, or cut out the first paw and trace it to make the second. It’s up to you! I traced so that the two would be exactly the same.
Step 5: Paint the snout and paws
Use your watercolors to mix up a light pink. Paint your paws and snout. Set them aside to dry.
Step 6: Assemble!
Use a glue stick to glue on your paws and snout. I used a thin black pen to add nostrils on the snout and some details on the paws. You’re all done! What sorts of cool things do you think moles find underground?
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.
Today, we are featuring London Peterson (Age 15), an artist from Eufaula Oklahoma.
Birds have become an unconscious part of peoples’ daily lives. The average person may occasionally acknowledge the presence of an obvious or interesting bird, but the memory will quickly fade into the recesses of the person’s mind, failing to spark the desire to uncover the bird’s many fascinating secrets. The person must be willing to drag himself out of his own busy thoughts, slow down, and allow his natural curiosity to win over if he really wants to peer into the secret life of a bird; he will find that its natural beauty warms his soul. I chose this bird, the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, because it is a little-known but startling bird that sparked curiosity in me and, I hope, will in the viewers of my painting.
For me, art is more than a hobby- it’s the way I get away from daily routine and immerse myself in a completely different life. This life is founded on a ceaseless admiration of the natural world, and my own attempts to do it justice. I don’t think there is any joy like that of pouring your whole heart into a painting and then feeling immense satisfaction when it correctly reflects the vision in your head. To accurately portray one of God’s creatures brings me utter delight, and I strive to do it better every time I lift my paintbrush.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
MILDRED MORSE ALLEN—artist, filmmaker, conservationist and philanthropist—made the Museum of American Bird Art possible through her generous bequest. And it is her combined passions for art and nature, especially birds, that drive the work of MABA today.
Mildred Vining Morse was born in 1903, the granddaughter of the two most prominent men in Canton: James L. Draper of the Draper Brothers woolen mills, and Elijah Morse, founder of the Rising Sun Stove Polish Company. Rising Sun was extremely successful: in 1881, 17 years after its founding, the daily output of the factory was 30 tons or 165,000 packages, of stove polish. A lumber mill and box factory worked day and night to supply its needs. Morse was a pioneer in outdoor advertising, renting space on buildings, barns, boulders, and even cliffs. His product was sold around the world. Mildred was the sole heir of the Rising Sun fortune.
She studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Passionate about birds, in 1961 she first borrowed bird skins from Mass Audubon to paint from. Eventually she painted 100 watercolor bird portraits, all now in Mass Audubon’s collection.
George Lockhart Allen became Mildred’s suitor in the 1920’s. She was very close to her widowed mother, and so it was to be a very long courtship. Mildred and Lock married in 1962, after her mother’s death.
Her interests later turned to filmmaking. She wanted to better capture the liveliness of the natural world, and she wanted to use the most current, compelling medium possible to spread the word about the importance of protecting the environment. Her short nature films received awards both nationally and internationally, and were shown across the country on public television. Her film, Nature Remains, won the Grand Award at the International Film & TV Festival 1966 in New York.
She thought of her property in Canton as a wildlife sanctuary. She once wrote: “My woods are ideal for a sanctuary: fields, hardwood sections, pine groves, one large swamp with a brook running through the center, two smaller swamps that dry up late in the season but are still popular, used for nesting by song sparrows and yellow throats.” At one time she had 53 bird houses throughout her property, and in the woods there were two feeders with a capacity of 100 pounds of seed, and two with a 20-pound capacity.
She died in 1989. Two years later, after her husband’s death, her 121-acre property and a generous endowment came by bequest to Mass Audubon. Today Mildred’s passions are perpetuated through MABA’s mission: to celebrate the beauty and wonder of birds and nature, inspiring inquiry and creativity, and expanding knowledge about humanity’s relationship with nature.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
The marsh marigolds are blooming! These early spring wildflowers come up in wet places and along brooks. Look for them when you are walking near shallow streams in the woods. The showy, bright yellow flowers, surrounded by green leaves, are easy to spot at this time of year.
Marsh marigolds are in the buttercup family (Ranunculacea). They look much more like buttercups than marigolds. The Latin name is Catha palustris. “Cup of the marsh” is the translation. The big, early flowers attract bees and insects to Marsh marigold aiding in pollination.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
Art Views is a fascinating series of personal perspectives on bird art, generously contributed by artists, collectors, MABA staff and other art enthusiasts. Read more Art Views here.
The painting Flight Over the Dunes by Cindy House was purchased for MABA’s collection in 2014.
Cindy House wrote: The last step in my pastel painting is to add the birds. In Flight Over the Dunes, they were the small flock of flying Mourning Doves. I found the landscape incomplete without the birds that happened by when I was in the field. Birds have an inexplicable way of bringing life to the landscape.
Cindy considers the greatest gift given to her by her mother, a natural history teacher, was the ability to see and observe the splendor of the natural world. She now uses that gift to express herself with pastels and occasionally oils.
In 2009 MABA was honored to host an exhibition of Cindy’s work, Landscapes Discovered: Pastels of New England by Cindy House. To see more of her art, visit her website.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
As our patterns of life have fragmented into a new routine, the ritual of finding solace and comfort in nature – whether it from my living room window while my girls jump on the couch (happening right now as I write), in my yard, or at nearby conservation land – seem all the more important.
“…While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm…”
When the chance allows in the morning, during the days with my kids, or in the late afternoon, I’ve been trying to spend time observing nature and taking photographs to share with you.
With the spring really starting to spring, the Red-winged Blackbird takes center stage.
You will see Red-winged Blackbirds spending their breeding season in Massachusetts in places like freshwater ponds, fresh and saltwater marshes, and streams. They especially love areas with reedy plant growth. Red-winged Blackbirds will occasionally nest in forests along waterways, sedge meadows, and fallow fields at farms.
For the next few months, you will see males making dramatic displays and calls to defend their territory. Learn more by watching the video below.
The song of the Red-winged Blackbird is a constant sign of spring in wetland areas. The song of a male is a creaky conk-la-ree! Listen to it in the following video.
Blending in is the goal of the female Red-winged Blackbird. She will sit still on her nest, usually built in the reeds with brownish grasslike material. It is imperative that predators overlook her and the nest. Few female Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived in Massachusetts, they usually arrive 2 to 3 weeks after the male Red-winged Blackbirds.
Photos by Sean Kent
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
And remember, be safe, be well, you’re not alone, and we will meet again.
We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.
Today, we are featuring Miguel Rodriguez (Age 5), a young artist from Bogata, Colombia
“I live by an Humedal (Wildlife Refuge) in the middle of a big city in the country of birds. My country has the most birds or the most shapes and colours in the world! My country is the country of birds!”
Enjoy these wonderful photographs of Miguel creating art.
As I’ve been able to get out of the house this week, I’ve noticed a few wonderful signs of spring. I wanted to send everybody a quick pop of color on a weighty iron grey day. Be well!
