Gláucia Mir | artist » birds

Rewarded in pictures

glaucia — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:39:54 +0000

So, I’m still plugging away on my project365, where I’m taking a picture a day. I’ve been pretty faithful to actually taking pictures, just about everyday, but I haven’t been great about posting.

Yesterday was a rainy day. Actually most of the weeks have been rainy. April was to be showers, may was to be flowers, but it’s mostly been non-stop showers, and occasionally you get a chance to actually look at flowers without getting wet.

Anyway, yesterday, despite some rain, I had taken pictures, but I kept my camera in my car, just in case. That was the best decision of my day.

It turns out that at Phoenix’s piano lesson, I was able to spot a nest of house finches who built their nest on the wind chimes right at her back door. What a treat to see little baby birds close up.

Sure, they are a mix of cute and ugly, but they are a treasure.

Here are my best shots… I’m hoping to go back in a couple days and get a couple more photos…

54/365

glaucia — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:22:39 +0000

Country life has got me happy.

Happy to pick up the milk, because it was a sunny day, and I might find a photo op.

And I did.

Birds, loving the top of the silo, and the warm sunny spot. Hundreds, I guess, but I didn’t feel like counting.

39/365

glaucia — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:39:14 +0000

I think I’m hitting that point where I start to see the craziness of this endeavor, where taking a picture everyday is starting to feel like lunacy.

There are days when I am far too busy with other things, and taking a beautiful picture is impossible, and taking a picture at all feels pointless.

Nevertheless, I still have managed the last 2 days, to take a picture of something.

The cold bitter wind wasn’t helping my picture-taking mood today, though praying this morning with other moms was a great way to start the day!

Thankfully, my friend’s backyard provided just the thing…

It was so windy, I’m not sure how thins junco managed to stay up, but you can see the win in his chest feathers…

This junco, on the other hand, was very well camouflaged…

Hoping for more sun tomorrow!

25/365

glaucia — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:56:47 +0000

Today I took a little detour, and walked around alone at Peace Valley Park. It was a nice walk, although it would have been nicer if I’d worm my boots, cause my feet got cold quick.

Yesterday a friend and her kids were lucky enough to spot bald eagles there. I was not so lucky.

I saw more common birds, but beautiful ones, nonetheless.

I also got a very curious heron…

and a flighty seagull…

All the activity was happening here, because it was one of the few places on the lake that had no frozen, and I guess provided fish and other edibles for these birds.

I have to go back with a bigger lens! Anyone have a big powerful 400mm lens they’d like to lend me??

living in the country

glaucia — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:06:38 +0000

This morning, I was once again thankful for the joys and beauties of the country.

Willik and I had to stay home, due to his everlasting fever due to the flu. Last week Fabio stayed home with Phoenix, this week, I stayed home with Willik. I hope his fever will finally subside, and he will be back at school by tuesday.

Anyway, since I was here, enjoying my coffee, and getting to enjoy a mostly rain-free morning, I was taking the time to look out the window, and enjoy nature right in our backyard. Within the hour, I saw tons of birds, and some 7 species.

We saw:

cardinals
blue jays
titmice
sparrows
house finches
robins
woodpeckers

Again I was amazed at God’s creativity, and my ability to experience it.

So, it is also another reason why I will continue to work on my country life series in November. Not only did I make very little progress in October, but I want a chance to continue to experience and extend the joy of the life around me.

What birds did you spot today?

blue jays on tree tops

glaucia — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:16:11 +0000

Another one of the bird series.

8″x10″ pen and colored pencils on bristol paper

a bird series

glaucia — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:55:38 +0000

I’m starting on a new series.
Birds.
If you’ve talked to me in the last couple months, you know how excited I am about birds. It’s my newest hobby. Watching and photographing birds. Reading about backyard birding, feeding birds, and identifying birds.
So I figured, why not draw birds as well. I certainly have accumulated enough pictures to use as reference…
So, this is my first attempt. I hope to do several more. This is in keeping with my goals for the year, of making more art, and having some themes or related bodies of work.

“Titmouse on Ice”
approx. 8″x10″ pen and colored pencil on bristol paper

birds’ treat

glaucia — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:56:46 +0000

On thanksgiving day, I put more fod out for the birds.

We have 2 suet feeders on our huge maple, and they were empty, so I decided the birds needed a treat on thanksgiving as well.

Within 10 minutes of the food being out there, I spotted over 10 different species of birds. I am still in shock at the variety.

blue jays
sparrows
european starlings
robins
nuthatchs
downy woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
titmouses

Most of them, I had seen in our yard before, but there were several that I still can’t identify.

The big highlight of the day was a vibrant nothern cardinal which was eating on the ground, under the little tree house. He was there for several minutes, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Now, if I could only get him on camera…