Tag Archives: great horned owl

Nature in a Minute: Whose woods these are…

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Sean K.

On January 1, 2019, Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening entered into the public domain and I have been pondering the lines from that poem, especially

Whose woods these are…
Robert Frost, 1923

as I take people on programs through the wildlife sanctuary – like high school photography students, develop STEAM curriculum inspired by our natural world, and continue to learn about our amazing natural world right here in Canton. Whose woods are these…

A Great-horned Owl has taken up residence in our pine grove.

As I quietly walked through our wildlife sanctuary, through a grove of tall, spindly white pines and oaks looking for the aforementioned great-horned owl, a white-tail flashed and a “herd” of deer bounded away my foot steps. My attention was draw to a quieter, subtle sound of faintly rustling leaves and breaking twigs gave away the location of a no longer resting coyote.

Here is a video from our trail camera of four white-tailed deer bounding across the pine grove late one afternoon this new year.

Four deer bounding through the pine grove

Here is a trail camera video from the past week of a single coyote a little past dawn moving through the pine grove.

Coyote in the pine groove

Since the New Year, our wildlife sanctuary has been bursting with activity fueled by an eruption of pine cones. Each day there is a cacophony of squirrels, both red and grey, and seed eating birds, like red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, tufted titmouse, black-capped chickadees, and more. The ground is covered with pine cones, including this pile near a vernal pool on the property.

A red squirrel moved frenetically – both eating pine seeds and remaining vigilant for predators – like the coyote and great horned owl that have both taken up residence in the pine grove.

A red squirrel frenetically collects and eats pine seeds

As a raptor hunted near by and blue jay’s mobbed the bird, a grey squirrel hung tightly to the trunk of a tree and tried to blend in until the danger passed. Whose woods are these…

Robert Frost reading Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Curiosity, inquiry, STEAM, and excitement

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Sean K.

We are extremely excited to announce a wonderful suite of programs that infuse pottery, nature, and science into our homeschool classes at the Museum of American Bird Art. Our classes are full of fun, active learning, curiosity, and laughter. Learn more and register for our homeschool programs in Late February and March. During February, we have also had an amazing three week long class on Drawing Owls and other birds, check out the following videos from two of the classes.

Week 1: Drawing Owls at the Trailside Museum

Week 2: Drawing Owls from Live in the Museum of American Bird Art

In late February and March, we will be offering a Nature Photography Class, Winter Ecology and Art Class, and Ceramics Class. Class sizes are small so sign up early to reserve your spot. If you have any questions, would like to register, or qualify for a multiple child discount please call Sean Kent at 781-821-8853 or email [email protected].

Learn more and register for our homeschool programs in Late February and March.

Winter Ecology and Art

Conduct ecological experiments in our living laboratory, investigate amazing adaptations, and reinforce scientific concepts by creating art! Under the guidance of a trained field biologist and Massachusetts licensed science educator, students will explore the winter ecology of plants and animals. Topics that we investigate will vary and will incorporate the interests of students enrolled in the program.

Homeschool Program: Pottery, ceramics, and sculpture

The pottery, ceramics, and sculpture homeschool program is designed to introduce and excite children working with clay. Each student will learn and use different hand-building techniques and the pottery wheel to create unique animal sculptures, vessels, and functional pieces such as plates, bowls, and mugs. While in this class, students will learn basic ceramics terminology, techiques, and processes. In addition to art making students will be able to explore the sanctuary’s trails, meadow, and museum to use as inspiration. During the pottery class, families not attending the program will have a comfortable space to sit, relax, use free wifi, or hike on our 121 acre wildlife sanctuary.

Zooming in on Nature with Digital Photography

Develop the skills needed to capture nature’s beauty through the lens of a camera. Learn the key elements of digital photography while taking photos that convey the magnificence of our natural world. Please note: Participants will need their own digital camera.

Learn more and register for our homeschool programs in March.

Springtime in the Valley, Part 1

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Barry V.

This is from a series of posts by MABA resident artist Barry Van Dusen

Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton on March 22, 2016

Bald Eagle Nest, detail - at 72 dpi

I know that spring arrives a bit earlier in the Connecticut River Valley, so I head out to Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton this morning. I drive first to the seasonal bridge on Old Springfield Road. This is where the Mill River (which runs through the Sanctuary) empties into The Oxbow. It’s a classic river floodplain landscape.

Floodplain Forest - at 72 dpi

At the bridge (which is closed to vehicular traffic at the moment), I meet John Such of Chicopee, a retired high school science teacher. He knows the area and offers to lead me to a Bald Eagle’s nest on the Sanctuary! John notes that this is the only Bald Eagle nest on a Mass Audubon property.

The expansive grasslands to the north of the bridge attract a variety of grassland birds, and these fields are carefully managed by the Society to provide for the needs of open country birds, many of which are declining in Massachusetts. As an artist, I appreciate the wide open vistas and distant views – quite unlike the landscapes near my home in central Massachusetts. Looking to the southeast across The Oxbow, the handsome hills of the Mt. Tom Range rise above the western bank of the Connecticut River.

We follow a track up along Ned’s Ditch – a large wooded swale between the fields that supports a marsh and floodplain forest. We hear the creaking calls of wood-ducks and the “conk-a-rees” of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Eagle Nest - at 72 dpi

The Eagle nest, by its sheer size, is easy to locate, but to get the best views requires careful positioning of my scope and field stool on the hillside about the “Ditch”. I settle down to watch…

The nest is placed in a main crotch near the top of a large, live tree (oak?), and is truly MASSIVE in size – so much so that the bird’s head, protruding above the mass of sticks and twigs, looks ridiculously tiny! I later learned that Bald Eagles make the largest nest of any single pair of birds!

Sketchbook studies, 4″ x 9″

The bird sits on the nest throughout the hour and a half that I watch. This could be either the male or the female, since both take turns incubating the eggs. The other member of the pair comes to the nest at one point, and appears to pass an article of food to the sitting bird, (though I couldn’t make out what), then quickly departs. Except for an episode where the sitting bird rises up and works diligently at something in the nest, all is quiet. I took this to be a round of egg-turning, which happens every 1 to 2 hours.

I decide to do a painting, but find that the largest paper in my pack is 9″ x 12″. A larger sheet would have been more suitable for the subject, but I start a watercolor, anyway. For the sake of my picture, I make the birds head a little larger, and raise it up a little higher than it typically appeared from my vantage.

Bald Eagle Nest at Arcadia, watercolor on Arches cold-press, 9″ x 12.25″

From my location on the edge of the “Ditch”, I can look to the west and see the nests of a great blue heron colony about a quarter mile away. I scan the nests with my scope, and spot a Great Horned Owl sitting on one of the nests! It’s a distant view, and my photo is rather fuzzy, but you can just make out the bulky, rounded shape of the owl.

GH Owl on Nest - at 72 dpi

I wondered how the owl and the eagle might interact as nesting neighbors. Great Horned Owls have been known to commandeer eagle nests and drive off the eagles – apparently the only native bird capable of doing so.

Buds and Bubos

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Barry V.

This is from a series of posts by MABA resident artist Barry Van Dusen

HABITAT Wildlife Sanctuary, Belmont on February 29, 2016

Robin and Sumac at Highland Farm Meadow

An ice storm in recent days has left the ground littered with broken branches, some piled along the sanctuary trails for removal. I realize it’s a good opportunity to get a close looks at twigs and terminal buds that are normally high overhead. A big sassafras as the edge of the meadow has lost a number of good sized branches, so I comb over them, looking for particularly interesting twigs and buds. The thick, curved twigs are a rich mustard color and the large buds are suffused with pink and olive. I break off a few twigs, and put them in my pack.

Sassafras Twigs 2 at HABITAT - at 72 dpi

Sketchbook study of Sassafras Twigs, watercolor and pencil, 9″ x 5″

I had learned from staff members that great horned owls have been frequenting a grove of pines near the intersection of the Fern and Red Maple Trails, and may have a nest there. I find the grove of big pines (which looks like a perfect place for a great horned nest) and give the area a thorough search. I find one suspicious clump of twigs and branches halfway up a pine trunk, but it doesn’t look big enough to support a Great Horned Owl nest. Perhaps it’s the beginning of a nest? I set up my pack chair at a distance, then settle down and take out my sassafras twigs and sketchbook. I’m hoping I might see or hear an owl while I’m quietly drawing and painting the twigs. Great Horned Owls are the earliest native birds to nest in our region, laying eggs as early as mid-February, and incubating them through late February and into March. If a pair is in the area, they should be well into the nesting cycle.

Great Horned Owl on Nest - at 72 dpi (cropped)

Great Horned Owl on Nest, Northboro, MA, April 2011

I have had only one opportunity to observe and draw a Great Horned Owl on a nest, and that was in Northboro, Massachusetts in April 2011. That nest was also in a big white pine, and if I positioned my scope just right, I got clear views of the adult on the nest. I was hoping for a similar opportunity at Habitat, but it was not to be. I saw or heard no owls today. I include my painting of the Northboro owl here, since a nest in the pine grove at Habitat would have looked very similar.

Songbird Studies at Weeks Pond, pencil, 5″ x 9.5″

After lunch, I explore more of the sanctuary. On the trail to Weeks Pond, a brown creeper calls from the trees along Atkins Brook. At the pond itself, I notice several signs of spring. A single red-winged blackbird calls from the treetops, and in a wet swale next to the pond, skunk cabbage is poking up. Its rich colors and patterns stand out in the winter landscape, a portent of things to come…

Skunk Cabbage

Piles of red maple branches around the pond again allow me close looks at the terminal buds, and I collect more twigs. Back in my studio, I put them in a vase of water, and a week later the buds started to open, so I painted them from life at my drawing board.

Red Maple Twigs, watercolor on Arches hot-press, 9.5″ x 13.5″

Are there more red-tailed hawks around these days, or is it just me? I’m watching a hairy woodpecker at Weeks Meadow when a big bird swoops in to land in the lower branches of a nearby tree. It’s a handsome young red-tail, attracted to a noisy mob of house sparrows in the thicket below. The bird is MUCH closer than the one I observed at Pierpont Meadow (see Beavertowns, Feb 1, 2016). With my scope, I can see every detail of its plumage and anatomy with startling clarity. On a raptor, the two points of high drama are the face and the feet. For a while this bird’s head is obscured by a branch, but I’ve got great views of its feet and lower body, and decide to start a drawing.

Sketchbook page, pencil, 9″ x 12″

Later, the bird shifts and I have a view of the whole bird – that’s when I start this watercolor on a separate sheet.

Young Redtail, watercolor on Arches cold-press, 12″ x 9″

Young birds, being rather clueless, can be excellent models. I’m in full view of the bird, and though I move myself and the scope several times to get better views, the bird seemed totally oblivious to my presence!