Snowy Plover Carving 118, Part 2

Welcome! Last time we went on a field trip to Lovers Key State Park to look for Snowy Plovers.  I was so happy to find one, and decided it would be my next carving.


The Snowy Plover is resident here in Florida, but is usually just found along the Gulf Coast side. There are a few subspecies of Snowy Plover. Ours is sometimes referred to as the Cuban Snowy Plover, Charadrius nivosus tenuirostris. It is found along the Gulf Coast of Florida, some Caribbean Islands, Northern Yucatan Peninsula, and Northern Venezuela. It is paler above than the other subspecies, the Western Snowy Plover, in North America.

I always start by creating a template based on scientific measurements from specimens as close to the birds Im carving. So I had to find measurement from Florida birds. Usually these are in old books that record the measurements of the bill, wing, tail, tarsus, and toe, in millimeters (which is so helpful!)

Carving out the shape from a block of wood, and using the template as a guide. 

So its almost entirely shaped. this is where I will do more detail work and lots of sanding!

Fast forward, to after the bird was finished being painted. The construction of legs was a new thing for me. Usually I just use a dowel, and shape it a bit, but this time I made legs out of wire and wood. Its a very delicate process but it looks so much better! I painted the little mound of sand (made out of wood) to look like the sand at Lovers Key State Park. Also notice how it only has 3 toes; some shorebirds don't have a hind toe, such as the Sanderling!

 

A day at the beach! This is in Destin, Florida on the Florida Panhandle. The finished Snowy Plover with my hatchling Black Skimmer, and a Least Tern in the background. I did see quite a few Least Terns, and a nice amount of shorebirds, but no Snowy Plovers here. This was mid-May so some of the shorebirds were in breeding plumage, which was neat to see!

Snowy Plover Carving 118, part 1

Its almost summer and its already HOT! A good time to go to the beach and enjoy a day in the sand and water, but of course always be respectful of the wildlife around you, and ones that share the ocean with you. In Florida and many other beaches this means sharing the sand with nesting birds! Like my next carving, the Snowy Plover.

In Florida we have Snowy Plovers year round on our Gulf Coast beaches.  They enjoy the calm waters and white sand found along the gulf. Because of this desirable habitat, to both humans and birds, it also attracts millions of people!! Many of which do not know that the birds here depend on these precise beaches for their lives.  Crowded beaches, pollution, pets, off-road vehicles, have all greatly reduced population of nesting shorebirds and seabirds. This is from nest being destroyed, trampled on, or stressing of the adult birds causing them to abandon their nest. The Snowy Plover is no exception and has become rare and endangered, even locally extinct on some beaches.

On my last birthday I went to Lovers Key State Park in Fort Myers beach to look for some. I had seen on at a nearby beach 2 years before, and wanted to find and photograph more.

It was a windy and rainy day, and I walked the entire length of the beach that faces the gulf and did not see a single Snowy Plover. While walking a Wilsons Plover did land just about 10 feet away from me though; it was quite random but I was happy!

I then went to walk a wooded path and came out to an inlet where the water was much calmer and there was a flock of shorebirds in the distance. I walked toward them along the upper part of the beach, but the flock kept having to go further away as they were being followed by clueless tourist... Eventually the flock flew and came closer to me. The flock was mostly Sanderlings, a few Ruddy Turnstones, and thankfully(!!!) one Snowy Plover.  I was able to get a few okay pictures of it while sitting still on the upper part of the shore, and it even came quite close to me on its own. Eventually, more people came and the plover flew across the inlet and out of sight... Im just thankful I got to see one, and for a moment!

The northern end of Lovers Key State Park. The Snowy Plover is in the picture, but its plumage blends it perfectly into its environment. It just goes to show how it is completely evolved for this area. 

The Snowy Plover, it spotted something tasty!

Another photo of the bird seen today. Its quite camouflage and if it wasn't with the flock of white Sanderling I probably wouldn't have found it!

Im so glad to have found it, but really it's all thanks to the conservationist and volunteers that make a lot of effort to protect these birds.  Without them Im sure I wouldn't have found this one. 

Thanks for stopping by, Part 2 is coming next with carving this charming little bird!

Red-bellied Woodpecker Carving 117

Hello! Sorry I skipped my previous 2 carvings, and my first carvings of 2019.

Carving 115 which I started in December 2018 and finished in January 2019, was a Merlin. I had seen a few during fall migration in Key West and had never done any falcon or hawk carvings before so it was a great learning lesson. It was also such a pleasure seeing these Merlins soaring and stooping over the island, especially the one I saw in a very fast dive over Fort Zachary Taylor State Park!  I think it must have been chasing some Palm Warblers as they were abundant at this time. I will have to make a blog post for it in the future!

Carving 116, is a Least Grebe, I saw on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, in the duck ponds close to the Atlantis Resort. I carved it out hollow so it can float, plus made legs and feet out of bamboo. I was initially going to make it as a kind of toy to play with me niece and nephew at the beach, but it turned out to be a little too nice and a little delicate, so it sits on a plexiglass stand in my room now.

Carving 117 is today's post: Red-bellied Woodpecker

This is the most common woodpecker in South Florida and can easily be spotted around neighborhoods and parking lots planted with scattered trees. It is also common across much of the Eastern United States, with its range expanding north. In South Florida these birds are sometimes considered a subspecies or race: Melanerpes carolinus perplexus. These birds differentiate in having a paler forehead, more black on the tail, the white bars on back larger than black, and smaller in size. Also the South Florida birds eyes are more brown than black. So, I models my carving after this race as these are the birds I see here at home in South Florida.

Red-bellied Woodpecker carving, after its been shaped and sanded, this is the time I do adjusting to the carving and any minor details before painting. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker, being painted at the Palm Beach Gardens studio today. So you can see the back is a little more black than white, the tail is almost entirely black, and the forehead of the male is not entirely red.

Red-bellied Woodpecker finished carving, on a Sabal Palm. The legs and feet are made of wire and wood, and two of the toes create and upside down V so that the bird can hang on a nail, or rough bark of a tree in this case. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker finished carving. These photos were taken at Frenchman's Forest Natural Area, in Palm Beach Gardens. It's a nice local park that has lots of native species.

A side view of the carving. Here you can see how the tail of woodpeckers brace the tree, helping them climb and balance as they peck and hammer at the bark. The tail feathers are strong and stiff! I think if I was to work more on this bird, I would have made him a little slimmer. He's a little too fluffed up for this hot climate. 

A final view of the finished Red-bellied Woodpecker carving, resting on a dead branch of a live oak. 

Thanks for reading! And to see more of my work / process please see my Instagram: @pondcypressstudio