Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

For my last memory of 2016, I want to talk about nemesis birds. But, just what is a nemesis bird? Let's start with simple definition: Nemesis bird (Nem-i-sus burd) noun   A bird that time and time again successfully evades discovery or notice due to their cryptic nature and infrequent appearances to an area that drives a birder to near madness in order to discover it. I have had a few nemesis birds in the past including canvasback ( Aythya valisineria ), brown creeper ( Certhia americana ), and northern goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis ). They had all the hallmarks of hard to find birds that suddenly appear for a few to see and then disappear, leaving other observers in the lurch. While all three species featured prominently on my year list for 2016, two species stood out as perfect examples of nemesis birds. Owls make for great nemesis birds as their preference for nocturnal living and cryptic plumage allow them to hide away when most birders are tramping through both forest ...

For thousands of years, human beings have been inspired and encouraged to create artwork that celebrates the diversity of the natural world. From early cave paintings of big game animals like mammoths and bison to the works of famous painters like John James Audubon and Louis Agassiz Fuertes, people have found countless ways to appreciate wildlife. My inspiration comes from the rustic wood carvings of ducks, geese, and other birds made by market hunters in the 1800s. The simplicity of their design combined with their rustic paint jobs and regional differences make them an interesting medium to look at. I've worked on woodcarvings of birds on and off for several years now and wanted to share some of my creations as well as the creative process behind them as well. Drawing from the decoys of yore, some of my first creations mirror the patterns of waterfowl and shorebird decoys represented along the Eastern shores of the United States. Carving decoys for hunting and shooting, eve...

After spending a mid March Monday afternoon birding at Montezuma NWR, I decided to head over the Beaver Lake Nature Center to see if I could find any Snows (the geese, not the egrets or the owls). I didn't luck out there, so on a whim I decided to look for the Long-eared Owls that had been reported earlier in the month. I didn't expect to see them until I heard the screaming call of a jay in the conifers by the Bog Trail. I stopped dead on the boardwalk and looked into the branches, hoping to see something. Round, yellow eyes stared back at me through the tangle of conifer boughs and bare branches. They were rimmed by a rusty orange face and gold-trimmed horns while a black beak rested below those watching eyes. I gasped with shock as I was gazing , unexpectedly, at a Long-eared Owl ( Asio otus )! I was so excited! I manically clicked away, grumbling as the dribbling rain threatened to dampen the camera lens and ruin the image. The owl continued to stare as I cleaned ...

As most of you who read regularly can tell, I like to carve wood into folksy likenesses of birds. Considering 90% of my posts consist of birds, birding, bitching about birding, and so forth, this isn't much of a change of pace. However, I'm here to give a summary of how I came to be interested in wood carving and what I've created so far. It started when I was young and had bought one of my first books entitled Duck Hunting by Dick Sternberg and Jeff Simpson. While I've always had an on and off interest in waterfowling, I never really have had the opportunity to go and while I would like to at some point, I am more content to read up on the history and learn about regional decoy styles. The page that caught my eye was the decoy page and ever since, I've had a fascination with the bird in a wooden form. One of my earliest posts on here was about the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper ( Eurynorhynchus pygmeus ) and how I'd made some folksy looking deco...