Milly is super excited to be one of the newest members of the Museum of American Bird Art’s Bird-a-Thon! With Milly on board, it is officially a raccoon approved super team!
Bird-a-Thon is an annual state-wide fundraising and birding event for Mass Audubon that began in 1983. Each spring birders from all over the state raise money to protect the nature of Massachusetts and count as many bird species as they can during a 24-hour period in mid-May.
If you’d like to help support Milly raise money for Bird-a-Thon, please visit her personal fundraising page here.
While we stay at home and social distance, the nature of Massachusetts and Mass Audubon still need your help and support, so Mass Audubon has figured out a way to keep this amazing fundraising event going while we continue to stay safe. This year’s Bird-a-Thon will be the first zero emissions Bird-at-home-a-thon. From May 15-16, birders from all over the state will be counting species in their yards and also participating in arts and crafts and other fun ways to score points for their teams. For more information on how you can donate or join a team like Milly did click here.
San Francisco photographer Sharon Beals combines a keen aesthetic eye with a devotion to preserving the natural world. She says, “Photography is a way to chronicle what moves my heart and concerns my conscience, from habitat restoration, plastic in the ocean, to the ecology of rivers, and of course, birds’ nests.”
Sharon Beals, Tree Swallow nest and eggs in the collection of the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, photograph, 2012.
Wondrous/Strange presented her stunning photographs from two distinctly different subject areas: bird nests, in their astounding variety, and deceptively beautiful still-life assemblages made from plastic beach detritus.
Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia). Collected from Scammons Lagoon, Shell Island, Baja California, Mexico, 1932. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.
Fantastic Nature Documentary about Hooded Merganser Ducklings from PBS
Hooded merganser ducklings brave a 50-foot drop from their nest high in a tree to the forest floor below. They are following the calls of their mother who is waiting to reunite with them at a lake nearby. “Animal Homes: Location, Location, Location” premieres April 15, 2015 at 8/7c on PBS. Check your local listings. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animal…
Get a close look at the Red-tailed Hawks’ clutch as Arthur rolls the eggs before taking over incubation duties. Watch live at allaboutbirds.org/cornellhawks
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.
Photo Arizona Department of Game and Fish April 16, 2020
Wildlife biologists in Arizona have searched for bald eagles nesting in saguaro cacti for decades. The Arizona Game and Fish Department announced they finally have a photo to prove eagles will nest in these large, branched cacti.
Bald Eagle Nesting at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary by Barry Van Dusen
Frank Benson, a giant of the Boston School of Impressionist painting, is also the standard bearer of modern sporting art in the United States. Fellow printmaker John Taylor Arms wrote that Benson “has achieved the distinction of founding a school—that of the modern sporting artist. In this, his followers and imitators have been many, his equals none.”
Left: The Duck Marsh by Frank W. Benson, oil on canvas, 1921. Mass Audubon Collection, gift of Agnes S. Bristol, 1972. Used as the frontispiece for John C. Phillips’ A Natural History of the Ducks, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1922.
But his second career as a printmaker specializing in sporting material would not begin until he reached middle age. Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1862, Benson spent his early years studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at the Académie Julien in Paris. In 1889, after a few years of travelling and holding various teaching posts, Benson began his long tenure as a teacher at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. During these years his stature as an artist constantly grew and he accrued numerous awards and commissions.
Using family members as his primary models, Benson bathed them in a diffused atmospheric light. These paintings show the artist’s early interest in Impressionist plein air scenes of leisure, realized through broken brushstrokes and a light-infused palette. As with many of the American Impressionist artists of the period, he acknowledged the complete dissolution of the figure as seen in French Impressionism, but never lost his interest in a composition grounded in realism and structure.
Benson left his teaching position at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1913—coincidentally the same year that the Armory Show in New York shook up the art world and formally ushered in the new style of Modernism.
Over Sunk Marsh by Frank W. Benson, drypoint on paper, 1920. Mass Audubon Collection, purchase, 1989.
Soon after leaving teaching behind, Benson started his career as a printmaker specializing in sporting material. Interested in ornithological illustration since he was a boy, Benson brought to his prints a love of nature and the outdoors as well as the “nurturing” experiences of a classically trained artist.
These prints also incorporate his interest in Modernism. In his spare, understated handling of the scenes, the birds—always identifiable—are depicted as calligraphic accents in elegant, almost abstract, compositions. In 1915 Benson had his first exhibition of sporting prints, and they were immediately in demand.
I’ve had the opportunity to handle the sale and marketing of numerous paintings, prints and watercolors by Benson. I greatly appreciate his tour de force Impressionist paintings, but I find the sporting prints very compelling as well. They have a timeless appeal to past and present collectors alike.
Our guest blogger Colleene Fesko is a Boston-based fine art and antiques appraiser and broker, and a friend of MABA. She is frequently seen on the hit PBS television series Antiques Roadshow.
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.
Learning and Understanding Bird Songs
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.
Located on YouTube: Avian Vocal Behavior by Bruce Byers and Donald Kroodsma in the Handbook of Bird Biology 3rd Edition from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing. http://birdbiology.org Recordist: Wilbur L. Hershberger. Courtesy of Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ID100741
Located on YouTube: Avian Vocal Behavior by Bruce Byers and Donald Kroodsma in the Handbook of Bird Biology 3rd Edition from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing. http://birdbiology.org Recordist: Wilbur L. Hershberger. Courtesy of Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ID85179
As migration begins to kick into high gear, many birds are returning to Massachusetts and their summer breeding grounds. In particular, this past week many Osprey have returned. They are setting up territories, returning and rebuilding their nests, and fishing.
“…True to the season, o’er our sea-beat shore, The sailing osprey high is seen to soar, With broad unmoving wing, and, circling slow, Marks each loose straggler in the deep below; Sweeps down like lightning! plunges with a roar! And bears his struggling victim to the shore. The long-housed fisherman beholds with joy The well-known signals of his rough employ; And as he bears his nets and oars along, Thus hails the welcome season with a song.” ~ The Fish-Hawk by T.A. Conrad
On April 16, 2020, I was walking with my three daughters at Wheaton Farm Conservation Land in Easton, Massachusetts. Each day we go exploring near our neighborhood and find peace with nature. As we were walking down the trail, I noticed a large bird circling overhead and realized it was an Osprey. We moved a little quicker to the pond and moved into a full run when I realized that it was hovering, ready to go fishing. Running full speed with a strolled while taking a camera out is a new skill that I’m well on my way to perfecting. Enjoy the photos of this amazing natural history moment.
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.
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klaussen. Candlewick Press in Somerville, Massachusetts
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:
One piece of sturdy white paper
Watercolors, a palette or plastic plate (for mixing), a brush, and clean water
Note: You can use any art materials to make the mole, it doesn’t have to be watercolors. You could use crayons, markers, collage scraps of paper, or anything that you have with you.
A white crayon
Scissors
A pencil
Glue
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?
Art Project Video by TerraCorp Service Member Dan Boudreau
