Robin Arnold Art

April usually brings kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers and several other early migrating birds to our property but this year, because of northeast winds, the migration is a little behind schedule. I finally saw a pair of  yellow warblers two days ago near the back of the property. Male Yellow Warbler in dogwood We have several of these warblers nest on our 12 acres every year.  I found this nest in the following photo last year before the leaves of the dogwood had totally blocked it from view. Female Yellow Warbler sitting on her nest. The winter of 2013/2014 was so severe that for the first time in almost 30 years we didn't have any Canada geese goslings being raised on our property and it looked like this year was going to be a repeat of last. In the last week, however, we have had a pair hanging around in our marsh and we're hopeful they'll nest on top of this muskrat house. Our marsh is only about 5 years old so this will only be the second time we've h

After talking about it for the last couple of years, we finally decided to order two wood duck nest boxes. Why didn't we do it sooner? These large nest boxes are no small feat to put up for anyone at any age but for two women, aged 59 and 65, it's a monumental task!  UPS delivered two wood duck nest boxes UPS delivered the nest boxes on April 17th, and that morning we got out the post hole digger, an 8 foot 4x4 post and went to work. This one was erected on the edge of our pond.Thank goodness our property is usually a soggy mess in the spring as it made the job of digging a hole much easier. Gena and Keetie digging the hole for a nest box We put the second box up the following morning on the edge of the marsh and I've spent the last week lathering myself with arthritis cream and popping Tylenol and Aleve for sore hands, neck, back, etc. Was it worth it? Well, a certain male house sparrow is ecstatic we went to all this work just for hi

Male Ringed-necked Duck  The ring-necked ducks are gone now but earlier this month we had a few hanging around on our pond. This year the weather  and the ducks cooperated and I was able to get nice pics of the male and female. The ring around the neck is very hard to see so I always ID this duck by the ring around it's bill.   Female Ring-necked Duck Ring-necks are diving ducks and every year a few stop by our pond to fuel up before completing their trip north to breed. The following photo shows a male ring-necked duck in the foreground beginning to dive. The duck behind him is a female bufflehead who stayed with the ring-necks for several days. Male ring-necked duck(in the foreground) diving for food

I took a break from mowing grass and putting up wood duck nest boxes to finally finish my "frog on a driftwood box". I made one of these for a custom order a few weeks ago and it turned out fairly well so I decided to make another for my Etsy store. The box is made from a piece of driftwood that I found along the shoreline of Lake Erie near where I live. Driftwood has become a hot commodity so anytime I can find a good looking, usable piece I consider myself lucky. The frog is carved from basswood and painted with acrylic paints. The inside of the box is drilled out with a large bit on a drill press,  and the lid swivels on a dowel. To see more details check froggy out at my Etsy store. https://www.etsy.com/listing/230687315/hand-carved-frog-on-driftwood-box-rustic

I was filling up the bird feeders when the setting sun peeked through the clouds and lit the landscape up in a beautiful glow.  I ran back into the house to get my camera and headed for our small marsh. What I saw almost took my breath away. Ohio is not know for dramatic landscapes but I think this photo shows that wherever you live there are moments of great beauty. The only thing missing were the four egrets who flew out of the marsh when I bumbled onto the scene.

Our big goal on April 4th was to plant some lettuce in containers. Originally, we were going to buy bags of dirt to fill the tubs but we stumbled upon a pile of nice black dirt on the dike running along the back of our property. Where we live it's hard to find anything but heavy dense clay so this was a real find. It was too wet to drive the mower so we dragged a little wagon to this spot, shoveled in the dirt, and then dragged it all the way to our backyard. We were proud of ourselves after we filled the containers with the black gold and planted the lettuce seeds. Gena, my partner, was so thrilled with it she was admiring it from the back window when she frantically screamed for me to come back and look at "something". I thought it was a rare bird but this is what I saw.   Dolly, our pekingese, was having a grand ole time digging in the dirt. We no longer have cats hanging around, so other than the cottontails looking for a nice meal, we thought we were safe. W

Yesterday morning was not nice weather-wise but I decided to go out with my camera despite the ugly conditions and try to get a photo of a pied-billed grebe. This grebe has been hanging out here for the past week and unlike most waterfowl who fly away before I can get close enough for a photo this duck stays put while I walk my dogs around the marsh. Pied-billed grebes are very small so even though they don't fly off it's still very hard to get close enough for a good photo, even with a super telephoto lens. With a diving duck such as this I try to creep closer when they dive for food. You can never be sure where they will pop up but I got lucky and this one surfaced in front of me fairly close to where I was standing. In this photo you can see the large chunky bill of the grebe. With this stout bill this diminutive duck is capable of crushing and eating  crustaceans and fish. Pied-billed Grebe I'm fairly certain this is a male pied-billed and I'm hoping he is t

April 1st was a nice day, so when I got home from my part-time job I decided to skip supper and spend some time outside with my camera. The male ring-necked duck was in our pond again so I slowly headed in that direction, trying to hide behind the trees as I approached. This duck is no fool and spotted the bumbling human before I got halfway to the pond. I have been trying to get a good photo of a ring-necked for the last few years so I was disappointed when he flew off.  I wasn't ready to give up so I  headed for our small marsh, walked the short incline to the dike and was again disappointed to see there were no ducks in sight. I stayed on the dike for another 30 minutes watching flocks of tundra swans fly overhead and trying to get some flight shots. It was beautiful watching them in the setting sunlight but  the photo opportunities just weren't there so I headed back to the house to finally get some supper. I was in the backyard when

While Gena and I were drinking our morning coffee a phoebe flew up to the window, looked in, and then perched on a feeder post. Phoebes, one of the earliest spring migrants , are in the flycatcher family. We also have Willow Flycatchers that nest on our property and I have a feeling I've been getting the similar vocalizations of these two birds mixed up. I'm now starting to wonder if phoebes have also been nesting close by. Their nests have a mud foundation and anyone who has ever visited our property knows this is the "land of mud". We also have protected spots on our barn and a couple of smaller  buildings that would be a good location for a phoebe nest. We'll be keeping on eye out for nesting phoebes and keep you updated. Eastern Phoebe I'm not only watching birds but carving them. Below is a rustic cottonwood bark Bald Eagle I just finished.  I still have to paint it but so far I'm happy with this carving. I've done a few of these in the pas