Blue-winged Teal Study

My current project this month, March 2018, is carving a drake Blue-winged Teal.  I am near the final process of painting the bird and needed many detailed close-ups of the feathers.  I did search google and found many great pictures, but there was certain angles that were hard to come by.  So, I decided to go out to Green Cay Nature Center in Palm Beach County where I've seen these birds at a close distance, and take some ( a lot!) of pictures. I hope these pictures help you, if you're also painting a Blue-winged Teal or just wondering what one looks like up close. The Blue-winged Teals (and other birds) here really don't pay attention to the hoards of loud tourist walking on the boardwalk and its a great place to bird watch and take pictures, also just a beautiful wetland.

 Details of the primaries sticking out, the decorative tertials, and the spotted flanks. The white spot is the femoral tract.

 A view of the scapulars, mantle, and front profile of the ducks head.  Its quite narrow in proportion to the round body.

 Another male, with his head flung back over its body.  It looks like its rubbing its head over its oil-gland. The spotted breast appears more rust colored in this lighting, and the beautiful namesake blue wing is visible.

Preening its mantle, you can see how the feathers in this area area a little different than the spotted body feathers and also different from the wing feathers and tertials. You can also see the iridescent violet head feathers.

The iridescent green speculum feathers. Ususally these are hidden under the flanks when this species is swimming. There is also a blue tertial feather that is sometimes visible.

 Wing fully stretched. Ducks usually use their foot to help stretch the wing out when preening (you can see one toe sticking out).

The sky blue coverts, and white greater coverts. The wing of the blue-winged teal is very helpful in identifying sexes during fall when both the male and female look almost identical.  The male wing is the same as this, but the female will have a someone spotted, greater covert, instead of the bright white like the male birds.

Nap time!  

Thanks for reading, hope you have a wonderful day.

Sandhill Crane eggs

When I go to visit my parents in Sarasota I always see Sandhill Cranes.  These birds are a subspecies, called the Florida Sandhill Crane and are resident and do not migrate.  They are pretty common in that area and can often be seen in parks and neighborhoods.  They are also often seen along roadsides which sometimes lead to unfortunate fatalities.  I have seen a pair on the side of a very busy intersection at University Town Center Mall...

Luckily some pairs to pick safe spots in parks or near private ponds where they can build a nest.  The nest that I have observed are usually just a few feet from the shore of a small pond on a raft of vegetation (cattails and various grasses).  In the nest they lay two cream colored eggs, with a speckling of warm browns. In a month the eggs hatch and a very fluffy golden chick emerges.

Last year, I carved two Sandhill Crane eggs from pine and painted them with acrylic paints; painting the eggs in light  watered down layers with certain spots showing through. This year, I displayed them in a Waterford crystal bowl with wetland plants from the front yard pond.

 Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis ssp. pratensis - eggs -carved from pine and painted with acrylics.

Waterford Crystal footed bowl with wetland plants including: cattail, fragrant waterlily, 

and a grass which grows very aggressively around the pond.

 

A close up of the two eggs. 

Bee Hummingbird charm

Here is a custom Bee Hummingbird charm I made for one of my good Cuban friends here in Miami.  The Bee Hummingbird is a special bird, in that it is the smallest bird in the world!  It measures just over 2 inches, and weighs about .06 oz.  In Cuba, this bird is called Zunzuncito and can be found in various locations throughout the island.

 

Bee Hummingbird , Mellisuga hellinae

Charm. Carved out of basswood and painted with arcylic paints.

German glass eye and brass hook.

 

Another shot of it in my hand. Its hard to imagine this about the actual size of this bird!

Bachman's Warbler Carving 110

In a few weeks spring will be here, but in South Florida it already feels like springtime. The oaks are blooming, the weather is getting warmer, birds are carrying nesting material, and spring wildflowers area blooming.  Early March is also the time when the extinct Bachman's Warbler - Vermivora bachmanii,  would be passing through this area (one record of a bird wintering in Florida also exist).  The last confirmed sighting was in 1962 and unconfirmed sighting was in 1988.  In Florida, the last sighting was in 1977.

I carved this Bachman's Warbler out of basswood, its painted with acrylic paint, and has german glass eyes. The stand is wood painted with a black tile base.

Bachmans Warbler , Vermivora bachman's

David Kramer February 2018

Same carving placed in blackberry thicket. The habitat which it would be found in.

Another shot with palmetto and blackberry.  Other birds, which this species would associate with were present, such as: Palm Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. 

A photograph of the carving in a pine tree, in a similar style of the only known photography of this species ever taken. 

Photo on the right: the only known photo of a live individual 1958.
Jerry A. Payne, USDA Agricultural Research Service

I hope you enjoyed this post, and hopefully this species could be found one day. It is very sad that none of us have the pleasure of seeing this species alive, and emphasizes the importance of preserving habitat to be as close to what historically was. Also, to focus on the study of its closet relatives the Blue-winged Warbler and Golden-winged Warbler, both of which have had devastating population declines. 

Happy Spring 2018!