April, no fooling!

Well it is April, and I am still blogging!

Beautiful spring days and the air is full of bird song and bird chatter; I have devoted most of this post to birds.

Young Canary having a bath (Hawaii)

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all …

Emily Dickinson

Heron above and Red Winged Blackbird below

Hummingbird on my feeder

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest …

Percy Shelley

Eagle chased by a Seagull above and Grebes below

Swallow

Our bird house is definitely in the fixer upper category, but it has attracted a family of Nuthatches:

Here is a peek at one.

Guess we avoided the vacancy tax!

I haven't managed to get a photo (whole bird) of them yet but here is an image of a Nuthatch from the internet:

no how-to video this month but here is a You Tube video I made of Java Finches from videos I took when I was in Maui.

(when we were still allowed to travel)

Java Finches

From the Studio:

Painting.

Shore Crabs

These crabs were hiding among the rocks on a beach in Haida Gwaii when my camera lens spotted them; the photo inspired this watercolour.

More 3D work too.

I have been busy working on another in what may become a series of Mysterious Corvids. This one is called Sherlock:

Still more work to do on the cover of the book

I gave him a jeweled Victorian pencil

 and of course he had to have a deer stalker and a pipe

This is made from a polymer clay called "Sculpey" which is molded then baked in the oven and painted. A big thank you to Lea Price for all her advice, I am definitely still in the learning stage with this medium.

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A couple of funny videos from the BBC:

Best of BBC talking animals (and birds):

What if Animals could sing like humans? 

Well that is all for today,

Happy Wednesday,
with whimsy,

Gillian

A new year, but same old weather

Another snowfall and a power outage made for a memorable New Year's Eve at our house; candles add atmosphere but alas no heat and little light. Our 3rd power outage in December.

Roads and paths icy so photo walk was quite short.

 

This crow seems to have had enough of the cold...

 

 

 

...and my hummingbird friends don't seem terribly happy about the long cold spell either.

 

 

 

 

So I thought is would share a variety of the birds I photographed last year.

 

From Hawaii:

 

 

Above a Mynah bird, below same but acting more like a Roadrunner.

 

 

Goudian Finches enjoying a fountain

 

 

Finch (foreground) and Zebra Dove

 

 

 

Parrot

 

 

From Haida Gwaii:

the rare "glass" Stellar Jay...

 

 

  Magnificent eagles:

 

 

Mischievous Raven 

 

Swallow

 

 

From close to home:

 

Mergansers:

 

 

Dunlin 

Widgeons

 

 

and lastly from Whitehorse

 

 

Not sure so will call it a LBB, little brown bird!

That's all the pictures I have for you today.

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If it sounds like I am whining about the weather, I am actually whining about the  cities reaction to the weather, too late and too little and very annoying.
The side walks are really slippery, even though the city has a bylaw about clearing sidewalks of snow by 10 am, they didn't clear the city property sidewalks -- but the bike lanes were clear to the ground!

The streets weren't plowed for the 2nd snow storm until after noon on a work day, all the buses were stranded at the bottom of the hill near us. City claimed they didn't expect snowfall even though Environment Canada gave plenty of warning.

As a result many people have fallen with bumps, bruises and breaks.

Vancouver (lower mainland) should be able to a better job of clearing the streets and keeping pedestrians safe!

Nothing like a good "wine" to start the year.

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Happy New Year - 2017



I will leave the last words to Tennyson:



"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'"

"Ring out the false, ring in the true."

 Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Happy Wednesday, with whimsy, and a little whine,

Gillian