A Louisiana Waterthrush beside a rocky stream...

…Rick and I had just crossed over one of the many rocky streams that tumble down steep hillsides and into the Little Miami River when I caught sight of a bird bobbing up and down on a tree limb in the distance. I knew what it was without having to use my binocs—a Louisiana Waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla), but a quick look through the camera lens while snapping a photo confirmed its identify. What a find! We don’t get to see Louisiana Waterthrushes very often, so we were happy and surprised…

We caught sight of this Louisiana Waterthrush just after crossing the stream that leads to the heavily wooded, deep and dark lowland flats ("Middle Earth"). The sun had actually come out that day, and the whole woods had morphed into a steamy hot sauna. It felt good...

Painting 152. Louisiana Waterthrush along the Little Miami

(Oil Pastel, Sennelier Oil Pastel paper)

When we saw this bird, the heat of afternoon was building. It was the first day of sunshine in weeks, and when I got home and started to paint him, my mind was still filled with the heat of the sun. I guess that's why the painting quickly went to reds, oranges and yellows. I never know what will happen when I pick up an oil pastel and start to paint, because for some reason the results are representational and emotion-driven. Using the creamy colors is fun, and no sketching is required. I just start putting down color and let the bird emerge. The finished piece is always impressionistic with a grungy feel. Detail and accuracy are abandoned for color.

Painting 153. Louisiana Waterthrush in the Deep Woods

(Watercolor and scribbled color pencil)

I painted this guy several days later. By then the rains and grey cloud cover had returned (so no reds, yellows and oranges!). Seems my watercolor paintings are always a little more realistic and detailed, but this one is still very loose. It was fun to scribble over the top of the painting with colored pencil. I just recently started picking the colored pencils up again. I haven't used them for so long.

...a pencil sketch of a Louisiana Waterthrush as a study for painting 153.

I wish I had had a video camera with me to capture the way the warbler was bobbing up and down. He really made me think of a Spotted Sandpiper bobbing and dancing to some unheard forest rhythm.

Angry Birds...in Middle Earth...

…there is one spot along the Little Miami River that is different from the “regular” woodlands along the trail—the lowland flats. The “flats” are thick and lush and mysterious. They sit about 20 or 30 feet below the biking trail about a mile up the path from the Powder Factory. Here the river meanders away from the bike path, forming a green, spongy stretch of land. When you walk the flats, you usually go unobserved by the people up on the trail, but you can see them, and you can hear them too as their voices sink down the slopes and echo around the huge Sycamore trees. The forest is deep and dark here, and the mind can wax fanciful easily, and that's not just me letting my imagination run wild. The last time Rick and I roamed the flats Rick mentioned the forest felt ancient, almost like we could be in a different world. He didn’t come right out and use the term “Middle Earth,” but I don’t think he would have been surprised to have seen a Lord of the Rings-style elf on a horse winding through the trees...

…so what does this have to do with anything? Friday, when the sun came out, I left work early and headed to the Little Miami. When I got to a turn-off path, I hopped off the trail and climbed down to the river where I followed a deer trail to the small creek that led to the flats. After crossing over, I walked only a few minutes before three little chickadees started sounding the alarm…screaming at me and scolding me like I’ve never been screamed at or scolded before! I took a few photos of them in their agitated state hoping they would calm down, but they didn’t. They were working in a triangle, shifting between three trees one after another, seemingly protecting the tree at the apex. That's when I saw a hole in the tree, which probably was a nesting cavity. I fired off a few more photos, but quickly left the scene. "Quiet down," I said, "You'll bring out the elves!" (I was kidding of course, but two deer on the other side of a giant felled tree did look up, which made me laugh...who knows...maybe...). I only walked 15-20 feet away before they calmed down and went about their business, but I didn’t linger and kept walking on, eventually climbing up the hillside and back to reality...

...now that's an Angry Bird!

...looking back at the tree with the nesting cavity in it.

...these Chiggies were relentless. He looks like he's singing, but he's not!! He's calling in the forces...

...look at the top-left corner of the photo. That's the nesting cavity he was protecting.

...intruder, intruder!

...danger...danger!

...get out...get out!

"Don't make me call in an elf. They have arrows..."

p.s. For you lovers of the "Angry Birds" games, there were no egg-snatching pigs around...the birds were just angry at me.

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