These handsome flycatchers have been evident in the garden lately. So dapper!
sayornis nigricans
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spinus psaltria
Ugh. Another one down. I don’t know why there’s a sudden spate of collision deaths, but we need to do something about it right away.
capra nubiana
This one’s for A, who loves tiny goats.
(Sketched from Creative Commons images by Greg Schechter and Israel_photo_gallery)
food-chsia!
It’s fun when your curiosity leads you to a new food growing in your yard. I saw these little purple fruit and wondered if they were edible — and yes, they are!
Fuchsia fruit can be substituted for berries in any recipe (teas, sauces, ice creams, jelly, tarts, pies, cheesecakes, pavlovas …) The biggest fruit-producing fuchsias are the single petal varieties (which is what we have.) But we’d need a lot more plants before we could count them as an actual food source. But still, I’m delighted with this new knowledge.
setophaga coronata
We’re enjoying these cheery winter garden visitors.
book group sketchnotes
I’m continuing to work on my sketchnoting skills. During book group I scribble and sketch madly, then next morning I try to pull it all together into a coherent, easy-to-follow summary. It’s an enjoyable challenge.
forficulidae
The tiny but mighty earwig packs quite a pinch. Don’t let one crawl up the leg of your pants.
movember
In honour of Movember, five x 5-minute sketches of facially hirsute people.
bucket hat
There was once a pale yellow bucket hat, whose owner wished for it to be a little more neutral in colour. No worries, said I.
I started first with bleach, then used coffee grounds to dye it, but even though I simmered it for an hour, the result was too pale. It was time to bring out the commercial dyes, of which I have quite a selection. But Golden Brown turned out to be too peach. Chocolate Brown made it too red. Navy + Black produced purple. We are definitely nowhere near ‘neutral’, so it’s going back into the bleach and we’ll try again.
The adventures continue.
Halichoerus grypus
The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. An isolated subspecies also exists in the Baltic Sea.
Marine mammals like whales and seals usually communicate vocally using calls and whistles. But a recent Monash University-led international study discovered that wild grey seals can also clap their flippers underwater during the breeding season, as a show of strength that warns off competitors and advertises to potential mates. This is the first time a wild seal has been seen clapping completely underwater using its front flippers. The research was published in February 2020 in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
Sketched from photos by Chris Bell, with permission.
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