Collection 2 - Feb 2020, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens

Collection 2 - Feb 2020

Location: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, FL

134 - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

135 - Palm Warbler, Western ssp.

136 - Gray Catbird

This months collection is inspired by the wonderful and well known Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables. These birds are fairly common and easily found at the garden this time of year, where they spend the winter. The idea of the collection was based on birds here in South Florida, that can be seen in residents personal gardens at their homes and in their neighborhoods. Common winter migrants.

Watercolor sketch of the birds and habitat for Collection 2.

134 - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

135 - Palm Warbler, Western ssp.

136 - Gray Catbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

flying male, carving 134, with Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea.

There was actually a female here, with a flock of American Goldfinches

eating the seeds of the sage.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris
flying male, carving 134, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
At this very moment there was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird here.  I feel like this place is the most reliable spot to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the winter in South Florida.

Palm Warbler, Western ssp. - Setophaga palmarum

winter plumage on a grassy base, carving 135

Beggarsticks - Bidens alba, blooming in the lawn.

Palm Warbler, Western ssp. - Setophaga palmarum

winter plumage on a grassy base, carving 135,

at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, in the lowlands looking up toward the 

Bailey Palm Glade. 

Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis

with Pine-Rockland base, soil, grasses, oak leaves, tiny snail shells,

and the endemic and endangered Small's Milkpea, Galactia smallii,

carving 136, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in the lowlands amphitheater. 

Pond Cypress Studio - Collection 2

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed!

Collection 1 Details, Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Pond Cypress Studio

Collection 1 - Jan 2020

Location and Inspiration: Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Martin Co, FL

130 - Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis ssp. floridanus

131 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

132 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

133 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

This collection was a custom made collection for a biologist studying both species. So they will be used in the field and used as decoys. I made them to be as realistic to the subspecies here with size and color, and also so that they are durable and can be used out in the field.

The Bachman's Sparrow carvings were made without feet, their legs are metal.

They can be placed on a snag or branch as shown below. The Northern Cardinal has a base that can be placed on the ground or logs. 

Back details of the Bachman's Sparrow. They're all in a singing position. 

The single male Northern Cardinal.  I made the base to be able to be placed on the ground, and leaves and maybe soil or sand to be placed around it, the little branch or root is covered with small mosses. 

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis ssp. floridanus

Carving #130, out in the field at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. 

It was a really pretty cool winter day. 

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis ssp. floridanus

Carving 130, another shot at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, with a blooming

Netted Pawpaw, Asimina reticulata, behind it. 

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis ssp. floridanus

Carving 130, another shot at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, on the ground

with blooming Wild Pennyroyal,  Piloblephis rigida.

Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

Carving 131, singing male at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. 

You can see how the wire legs are easily placed on top of a charred pine

to create a realistic position of the bird singing. 

Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

Carving 131, singing male at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. 

Another view with all the beautiful palmettos and slash pines in the back. 

Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

Carving 131, singing male at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. 

And another view of the belly. You can see just one of the legs is stuck into the 

charred log. The chest is puffed up, as its singing its loudest, and the mouth is 

actually coated so that it looks wet and shiny. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and this months collection. If you haven't seen the short clip I made for this collection with these photos included please click the link below. Theres some of the blooming wildflowers in that clip as well. 

Pond Cypress Studio Collection 1 

New year, new logo!

I took this group photo of some of the birds I've made over the past year, with a few old favorites mixed in too. Just wanted to share this here full size. It will be used for my header for this blog and on Etsy. Hope you all have a wonderful New Year, 2020 is almost here and Im really excited for what this new year and decade will bring! For me there will be lots of new birds and hopefully a new house, garden, and studio to be working in, plus beginning to offer some of my full size birds as well as other works for sale in the upcoming year!

I also have a new logo which I posted on Instagram last week! Here's the post from that:

My new logo for Pond Cypress Studio. I finished designing today and have been thinking about a lot lately. I wanted it to be symbolic for me personally, but also of the areas I’ve lived, and of the artwork I create. 

What is “pond cypress”?  It’s a tree, native to Florida, whose range extends up to Virginia and west almost to Texas.  This is the area I’ve spend most of my life. It inhabits wet areas and has yarn like leaves and small round cones, which I’ve drawn in my logo with the leaf curling around the cone. They are a symbol of longevity, living up to 1000 years, and in Everglades NP there is a dwarf cypress forest. They’re an important tree for many birds, and a wide variety of other plants and animals. 

The Prairie Warbler is a cute familiar songbird which lives in the eastern United States and has a residential population in coastal Florida. It was one the first warblers I was able to find and identify when I started bird watching, which also taught me and got me interested in learning about bird subspecies. It’s the one warbler I see most often throughout the year here in South Florida. 

So thanks for reading, I just wanted to share some things about me and why I chose this new logo, and also to say thanks a lot for following me and the support!! I appreciate it!! 😊

Northern Cardinal, Carving 127

The Northern Cardinal is one of the most famous birds here in North America, but is also a recognizable bird all over the world, used on household goods and other media, it's a common sight. Here in the US it's found in the eastern portions of the country and the south. It's a common bird in neighborhoods, and a frequent visitor to bird feeders. In Florida we have a subspecies of the Northern Cardinal, sometimes referred to as the Florida Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridans . It's smaller, darker, and has other subtle size and color differences. This one I'm making is somewhat of a prototype.  I have a project to make a decoy for a researcher. It's to help coax males into the mist nest which have been reluctant and shy. We'll see how it goes! 

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus

Finished carving on its unfinished base. It's with a poinsettia in a foo dog planter from Martha Stewart and 1800flowers.com collection from 2007. Its one of my cherished vases!

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus

Finished carving with finished base in a forest setting, with wild 

Bostons fern's growing behind it at Frenchman's Forest Preserve 

in Palm Beach County, FL.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus

Finished carving among Wild Pennyroyal, Piloblephis rigida,

 it at Frenchman's Forest Preserve in Palm Beach County, FL.

As always, thanks for reading!  I should be having the other cardinal coming out soon.  

Happy Holidays!!

Blue Jay Carving 124

In South Florida, we have a subspecies of Blue Jay, that is smaller and has a slightly different coloration. These birds are common all around South Florida, even in busier parts of the city. They feed on insects, at bird seeds, and fruit like mangos! They usually travel in small groups making a lot of noise and imitating Red-shouldered Hawks.

This summer during mango season by friend in the Miami Lakes area sent me a video of a Blue Jay eating a mango from his tree. The mango had a large hole from the Blue Jay pecking out chunks of the fruit and swallowing it. The mango looks about the same size of the Blue Jay and I'm sure weighs more!

Here's the original video, sent to me from my

 friend Alfredo Hernandez in Miami Lakes, FL.

The video was taken July 6, 2019. 

Blue Jay, South Florida subspecies - Cyanocitta cristata semplei.

I made a stand to resemble and older dead mango branch 

with a few cracks and drops of sap leaking out. 

David Kramer - Pond Cypress Studio 2019

Blue Jay, South Florida subspecies - Cyanocitta cristata semplei.

A closer look, in a habitat which I usually see these Blue Jays.

 Lots of live oaks and other fruiting trees with a canal in the background, in Hollywood, FL.

David Kramer - Pond Cypress Studio 2019

Heres a video of my Blue Jay taken next to my townhouse bird feeder. 

You can see the Blue Jay come down to get some black sunflower seeds and when it goes to the feeder it takes a few glances at my carving. It doesn't seem to mind it. 

Blue Jay, South Florida subspecies - Cyanocitta cristata semplei.

David Kramer - Pond Cypress Studio 2019