Robin Arnold Art

Earlier this week we were taking a walk around the marsh and we saw a pair of Canada geese sitting on top of a muskrat den. We figured it was the same pair who nested there last year but as we got closer we noticed there was something not quite right with one of the geese. It's head was wasn't dark black and the bill and feet were orange, not black as they should be. I took some photos and posted them on FB to get some opinions on this odd goose. Turns out this is a hybrid goose and after doing some research it seems likely a Canada goose mated with a Greylag domestic goose.  This is a photo of the hybrid goose swimming with his mate in our pond. I was surprised a female would pick a mate who was not the norm but I guess it's not a big deal to her. The hybrid also doesn't sound like a Canada goose as you can hear in the video below. This pair is still fighting with another pair for the rights to a  nesting spot in our marsh so it will be interesting...

I finished my second pencil drawing of this male Lesser Scaup over Memorial Day weekend. There are areas that could be improved upon but I'm amazed it turned out as well as it did. These drawings mean more to me than words can express, not only because I just love to draw but for several years my right thumb hurt so badly that it made that hand essentially unusable. Everything I loved to do, including my wood carving, came to a grinding halt. I couldn't even hold a pencil or paintbrush without extreme pain. After a few years my thumb finally got better but then it started to hurt because of arthritis. After almost ten years of being side-lined the pain has lessened and I'm finally able to do some carving and a little drawing. I have to be very careful though, because if I overdo it my thumb starts to hurt.  I think painting with watercolors would be less stressful on my hands so I bought a set along with a couple books and I'm trying to paint something that looks r...

Several wood ducks and hooded mergansers have been flying in and out of the new nesting boxes we put up this spring but one female wood duck has finally claimed one of the boxes as her own and is now incubating the eggs. This is the box on the edge of our pond and the one that we are able to keep a closer eye on. Female wood duck perched on a nest box Now that the female is incubating the eggs the male wood duck isn't hanging as much around but a week ago, when the following photos were taken,  he was still with the female. While she was checking out the box or laying eggs he would swim around in front of the box, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. Male wood duck swimming in front of the nest box I was  very fortunate to get a photo of the two of them together before she entered the nest box. I won't get another chance for a photo like this until next spring! Pair of wood ducks in our pond near the nest box

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...

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