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!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Carving 122

At my parents house I designed and planted a Hummingbird Garden, which has nectar plants to attract hummingbirds, but also attracts a wide variety of nectar feeding insects and other native wildlife. This garden is planted with different species which I will list below and is very low maintenance except for annual pruning and occasional weeding. It doesn't get any supplemental watering except maybe during the winer dry season.

Hummingbird Garden Plant List for my garden in Manatee County, Florida:
Darlington Oak - Quercus hemisphaerica
Slash Pine - Pinus elliottii
Firebush - Hamelia patens
Walter's Viburnum - Viburnum obovatum
Coral Honeysuckle - Lonicera sempervirens
Rangoon Creeper - Combretum indicum (not native - bought because I saw a hummingbird on it at the nursery. Is beautiful and fragrant)
Corkystem Passion-flower - Passiflora suberosa (supports a colony of Zebra Longwing butterflies)
Firecracker Plant - Russelia equisetiformis
Shrimp Plant - Justicia brandegeena
Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea
Sage - Salvia x 'Wendys Wish'
Sage - Salvia x 'Mystic Spires'
Coleus various cultivars
Common Violet - Viola sororia
Wild Boston Fern - Nephrolephis exaltata
Florida Butterfly Orchid - Encyclia tampensis (I've only seen tiny bees on these)
Giant Airplant - Tillandsia utriculata
Northern Needleleaf - Tillandsian balbsiana

So since the winter of 2018 I've been seeing a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, feeding in a large Laurel Oak, I think picking off insects. It spend a lot of time searching all the branches of the trees and making short quick movements and then hovering throughout the tree. Later I saw her in my Moms vegetable garden feeding on some nice healthy Scarlet Sage. Then this spring and summer I saw her in my hummingbird garden and also feeding on the other fire bush I've planted around the yard, and defending the bushes from a juvenile male hummingbird (which Im wondering if its her son).  Here is her carving. I made her with a slightly turned head, and siting on a wood finial.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

Finished carving made of basswood, acrylic paint, and glass eyes,

sitting on a wood finial base. 

David K. Kramer 2019

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

Here is carving in my hummingbird garden where I saw her, feeding on

Coral Honeysuckle, a beautiful native vine. 

David K. Kramer 2019

Bahama Woodstar Carving 114

Whenever family visits, a great thing to do is thing to do here in South Florida, is to take a cruise!  This is for many reasons: having everyone doing activities together, eating meals together, exploring new places on and off the ship, no cellphone service (so people are more engaged in the moment), and just having fun doing things and making memories!

A secret (or maybe not so secret?) is that birding can be really good when going on cruises!  Even as the ship is going over the ocean in autumn or spring, you can see hundreds of birds migrating, and a lot of birds land on the ship.  I have seen a variety of warblers "fallout" on the ship itself, and even an American Kestrel perched on  a ship flagpole hunting warblers.  ...and this is far from any visible land!  One time while we were on a transatlantic cruise in the spring going from Miami to Funchal (a Portugese Island) we were 2 days already sailing over the open ocean and I was still seeing songbirds flying by! Of course, you do see oceanic birds sometimes, and a few of the birds I've seen are lifers like the Masked Booby and White-tailed Tropicbird, and then some more familiar ones like Royal Terns chasing flying fish and a Red-breasted Merganser speeding by the ship. 

When you finally get to the destination there is, of course, the native species.  Many of the Caribbean Islands have endemic species.  On this trip we stopped at 2 Bahama Islands: Coco Cay (which is Royal Carribean's private island and part of the Berry Island chain) and Nassau. I was on the search for new birds, and to see what kind of birds could be spotted during the short time on the island.  My focus in the Bahamas was the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird!

Me in my beach gear.  There was a cute sign with a Laughing Gull painted on it. 

The Laughing Gull is the most common gull around here and Im glad they painted it, instead of a generic gull. The people didn't heed the sign, and even if they don't feed them directly there is a lot of dropped food anyway!

Walking down the beach, away from all the beach parties, and in a quieter area I found a small path. Which had various migratory warblers and some local birds.  I saw lots of Bahama Strongbark trees blooming, and some with lots of pretty red berries. I saw in a shady spot and watched. 

Bahama Strongbark, Bourreria succulenta, blooms and berries.

 I luckily did see a Bahama Woodstar! I didn't get a clear picture of it; and it didn't stop moving for a moment, plus my camera is old and slow to focus. It was visiting each little flower and moved along silently and quickly!

Just a view of the adjacent beach where the little hummingbird was seen. Once I got on the ship that evening, I used my sketches and started making a draft-template of the bird I wanted to carve. 

Fast-forward to my Bahama Woodstar carving. He's sitting on a wood finial that is supposed to resemble the wood of a Bahama Strongbark with the species of lichens found on them. I really like making these carvings because they are the ultimate souvenir for me.  I think of the carving as the actual bird I saw that day. 

Bahama Woodstar

Calliphlox evelynae 

carving number 114

finished Oct. 2018

photographed at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens,

in Coral Gables, FL

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Throwback Photoshoot

Today I just wanted to post a few pictures that I took a year ago for my Instagram page. Enjoy!

Hand carved and painted eggs in a domed cake stand (Sandhill Crane, Bald Eagle, Mottled Duck, Great Egret, Boat-tailed Grackle) and a Black Skimmer chick carving in a smaller cake stand. Both cake stands are from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy's. 

A Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Ruby-throated Hummingbird carving. Both sitting on wooden finials painted an aged gold color. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a common hummingbird here in South Florida during winter time. The Buff-bellied Hummingbird has been a resident for a few years now in Miami at a small park planted with lots of nectar plants. The gold vase is from the 2007 Martha Stewart 1800flowers.com collection.  I gave one to my good friend in Houston to put at her restaurant but one of the customers broke it. 

A carving of the brown form of the Eastern Screech-Owl. This bird is a resident at the Green Cay Nature Center and Wetland in Boynton Beach, FL.  It has a home in a Sabal Palm near the path, but I haven't seen it except for the original time I saw it before carving this bird. I hope it hasn't been scared away and people are being respectful of it while observing it. In this picture its surrounded by Tropical Pitcher Plants, Nepenthes graciliflora and Nepenthes robcantleyi. The base is a wooden finial painted in an ombre tone of the stone block its sitting on. 

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!