Bluebirds, Butterflies and Every Day In May

Saturday we had a beautiful spring day, blue skies and a temp. in the mid 70's. I took advantage of having a day without rain or gloom to revisit Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA. It is another of the MA Audubon sites and while I was there last fall I felt it was time for a return visit.

I had an excellent visit though I didn't make the walk down to the Charles River which borders the park on its eastern edge. I did however see several birds of note and also one Butterfly that was new to me. The above spread in the Nature Journal shows the pavilion or observation structure that over looks the outflow pond for the mill pond that is on the property. While there I saw an orange and black bird, perhaps a Baltimore or Orchard Oriole though I am not sure which, the bird didn't hang around long enough for me to get a really good look. It is sort of a pretty spot thought the pond is getting a bit overgrown.

The bottom image is one of my rare (for this Journal) colored drawings. It is of a blue bird sitting in a tree. I watched the bird catch a bug and then land in the tree to eat it. For some reason it hung around for a while which allowed me to make some photographs. Not wonderful ones but not bad ones either. Anyway I wanted to document the sighting, but felt it needed color to show it really was a blue bird. They do have those sort of orange fronts esp. under their bills, that then fades to white underneath.

Other birds I saw were Canada Geese with young, red wing black birds, a Great Blue Heron, I think, though it might have been a Little Blue Heron which are a darker grey than the Great Blue.  I am just learning about the Little Blue's and am going to have to spend some time learning how to tell the two birds apart. The Little Blue is smaller and darker, but I have a feeling that since I usually see these birds at a distance telling them apart is going to be tricky. I also noticed some oak trees in bloom, maybe there will be acorns this coming fall.

Above are the last four drawings I have done for the Every Day in May Challenge. For May 12: Draw Buttons, I drew my old TV's remote control. May 13: Draw something that waves in the Breeze. I found a photo of an American flag flying on the Web and drew that. May 14: Draw your lunch. I had a banana and a ham sandwich. We were supposed to blog about it, but what can you say about a ham sandwich? Also for this one I made a photograph yesterday so I could eat and run, made the drawing this morning. For May 15: Draw a Traffic Sign:, I drew the stop sign that is at the corner of my street and visible from my balcony. I just did it free hand, no rulers so I think it might be a bit out of square, but hey it is done. Same note as the last time I posted these to the blog if you wish to see larger images of individual drawings please visit my Flickr account.  Also all drawings have been posted to the Every Day in May Flickr Group.

Above is last nights figure drawing. I think it has been a while since our model stretched out on the sofa. She did actually fall asleep at one point, but mostly remained awake. A challenge to draw though a relatively simple pose.

Above is one of my photos of the blue bird. I know a bit hard to see, but take my word for it that there is a bird in the photo and it is a blue bird. Actually I just like the tree branches in this photo which is why I chose it.

While at Broadmoor I spotted a bunch of butterflies all feeding at some blooming bushes. I am not sure what the bushes are, it has little white flowers and smells sweet. But there were at least a half dozen butterflies all enjoying a snack. I made a lot of photos, but the one above is probably the best of the bunch. This is a Red Admiral Butterfly. They were mostly above my head at a bit of a distance, and they didn't stay in one spot very long so I was pleased to get even one good photograph.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are always welcome.