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!

Bachman's Warbler Carving 110, part 2

While creating my last post I was going through some of the images of the birds I've carved and came across another picture I took of the Bachman's Warbler I made before it was attached to its stand.

Right now its winter and if any of these warbler are left they'll be in Cuba enjoying the cooler and dryer season we have in this part of the world. Historically, there are a few scattered records in Florida, which is true of its relatives the Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers.

Bachman's Warbler - Vermivora bachmanii, Carving 110

In scrubby lowland habitat, which it would be found in winter. 

In the spring, while taking this picture there was a singing male Northern Parula, 

which paid no attention to my Bachman's Warbler. I was hoping for some kind of 

reaction, but Im sure the Parula has never seen one either, and/or my warbler is not realistic enough. 

Thanks for reading! 

David Kramer

Pond Cypress Studio

Cape May Warbler Carving 119

Spring is in full swing! And its already HOT here in South Florida...
Last month was the Spring migration for most birds here, whether they spent the winter here or further south, they leave and head back north. One bird which spends its Winters in Carribean, and the very south tip of Florida, is the Cape May Warbler.  In late May a large wave of them along with other warblers, vireos, etc, pass through Florida; and the best part about it is they're in their bright spring plumage!! I was really happy to see a very bright male with dark rufous cheeks, much darker than I've seen before ...though it might have been the lighting. He was with a flock of 12 American Redstarts, and a few Northern Parula, at the Morikami Museam and Japanese Garden in Delray Beach, FL.  It's a great place for warblers because of the variety of trees, native plants, and water features. If you find a fruiting fig (Ficus sp.) around this time of year, you're sure to see a variety of birds eating the fruits or insects on the fruits. So after I saw this warbler I was really inspired to carve him.  I had been wanting to carve on for a while now too!

Me, at work, with the almost finished Cape May Warbler. I have always tried to make each of my birds true to size. I research measurements taken from banding birds and use them as a guide when carving. 

The Cape May Warbler is the first bird I've made with an accessory. This is the fruit of a Shortleaf Fig, Ficus citrifolia, made out of wire, wood, and painted with acrylic paint. 

The finished spring male Cape May Warbler, sitting on my faux bois table from Martha Stewart. 

The faux bois planters behind it are all planted with Florida native plants, that area native to the South Florida counties. 

Another view of the finished Cape May Warbler and ficus fruit. 

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your spring and a very safe and happy summer. 

Thanks for visiting!

A selections of bird magnets

Hello on this rainy spring day in South Florida!  Theres been a lot of showers and storms coming from the Caribbean and its a good day to be inside and working on projects. One of the things I work on besides from my bird carvings is making what I call "flats".  These are flat pieces of wood carved into a semi-relief sculpture of the bird it represents.  Once they are carved and painted, they can be framed, turned into magnets, pins, keychains, and other accessories.

Here are a few sets that were made into magnets:

Golden Yellow Warbler (Cuban ssp.) and Florida Prairie Warbler

These 2 birds were seen together in the mangrove forest of Key Largo.

A custom set of 4 warblers:  

Black-throated Blue Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Chesnut-sided Warbler, 

and Black-throated Green Warbler.  

A variety of birds from my summer collection last year. 

Ruddy Turnstone, Common Yellowthroat, Cooper's Hawk (a small male), 

Bobwhite (the darker Florida subspecies), Black Skimmer. 

:

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!

DAvesFL - July 2017 Collection

DAvesFL - July 2017 Collection

Flats, all magnets

-Black Skimmer (head)
-Ruddy Turnstone
-Florida Bobwhite (head)
-Common Yellowthroat (SE US subspecies)
-Coopers Hawk (head, small male)

Some of these are available in my Etsy store:
D Aves FL Etsy