The Warblers of May, in Philadelphia, in Watercolor

Northern Parula at Carpenters Woods. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

Ovenbird at Carpenters Woods. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

May passed by in such a flurry of activity that, just like an eventful vacation, it seemed undigested. Like a good meal that was eaten in such a hurry that only afterwards do you actually enjoy it.

Such was the case as I looked through some of my photos from May. Such good looks at Worm-eating, Hooded, Prairie and Northern Parula Warblers as well as Ovenbirds and waterthrushes. Since I spent so much time trying to sketch them it's doubly surprising to see how many good photos I got.

I'd like to recommend the place where I saw them, an Important Bird Area called Carpenters Woods, only a couple of miles from our house. The reason I don't recommend it and don't visit much except in May and perhaps September is that there are so many loose dogs, even though it is illegal to have them in Fairmount Park, of which Carpenters Woods is part, without a leash. By May I'm so angry with anger at the dogs and their owners that I no longer enjoy being there. This battle, between birders and dog owners, is playing out across the U.S. When we first visited Carpenters Woods about 20 years ago we ran into a co-worker. When she saw we were birding she asked if we were familiar with the conflict between dog owners and birders. We weren't and were surprised by the question. Now it's all we think of when we visit.

But if you don't mind dogs running loose, scaring up rare birds, and perhaps ruining their nesting attempts then it's a great place to bird. It's been known for years as such and has, as best I can tell, declined tremendously over the last 10-20 years. But I say this only from hearsay not experience. Though we birded there 20 years ago we were too inexperienced to appreciate what was or wasn't there. This year though it seemed as full of birds as the far better known Magee Marsh of Ohio. I know it wasn't but if it seemed like it then who can complain?

In any case I was surprised to see what nice photos I had of some Northern Parulas, a beautiful bird that we see often but of which I have next to no photos. Nor very usable field sketches. Given the number of good photos I couldn't resist the watercolor sketch above, again in a Stillman and Birn 7x10 Gamma Sketchbook. My intent more than anything else was to get a sense of its striking colors as well as its pose.

Ovenbirds were incredibly visible this spring, both at Carpenters Woods and elsewhere. They are a thoroughly endearing bird, perhaps due to their cuteness, perhaps not. In any case we saw very many and I couldn't resist another watercolor sketch in the Gamma sketchbook. Luckily this year we've continued to see them in Philadelphia through the month of June. So though I've heard second-hand reports of a decline in breeding birds in Philadelphia, reports I've never really investigated, we're happy to report that at least some have stayed for the summer and most likely bred.

Eventually I'll get back to printmaking but for now I feel like trying to improve my skills at watercolor.

Runny Ink, Watercolor, Waterbrush Sketches

Black-bellied Plover and Dunlin at Two Mile Landing. Ballpoint Pen and Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

Black and White Warbler at Carpenters Woods. Ballpoint Pen and Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.
 

I decided to experiment with the runny ink from a Pilot Precise V5 ballpoint pen, watercolor and a watercolor brush that I used the other day in an American Redstart sketch. I suppose you might call this Fast and Lazy Watercolor.

Due to the fact that I really can't change the ink line once it's down and to the fact that I'm using a waterbrush, whose water load is limited, instead of watercolor with a normal watercolor brush I'm very constrained in what I can do. In some ways it's like a potato bag race - limited but quick. Well maybe not so quick in the potato race. In any case there are severe limitations in terms of artistic handling.

But because of that I can to a lot of sketches. They stay spontaneous and they also let me work through a lot of ideas quickly. In this case I'm a bit more tempted to pursue another more developed work with the shorebirds rather than the warbler.

The Black-bellied Plover and Dunlin were some of the few shorebirds we say at Cape May last November. The Black and White Warbler on the other hand was one of many, many warblers that we saw at Carpenters Woods in Philadelphia earlier in May.

A Few More Warblers And Such

Hooded Warbler at Carpenters Woods. Photo by Ken Januski.

I had really planned on not taking any more warbler photos. But when we found a cooperative Hooded Warbler at Carpenters Woods in Philadelphia yesterday I had to try to get some photos, mainly just to document that we'd really seen him. They do breed throughout the rest of Pennsylvania but I believe that this is the first we have seen in the state.

Actually we saw it in three different locations at Carpenters Woods so it's possible that there was more than one. Today we saw what was undoubtedly a different one since it was about 5 miles away at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Oddly enough it was in the open with a Veery, Eastern Bluebird and Ovenbird, a very nice collection of very visible birds.

Though warblers have been visible in extraordinary numbers at Carpenters Woods this week we skipped it to bird SCEE. The main reason for this, outside of avoiding weekend crowds, is that we are covering SCEE next weekend for the Pennsylvania Migratory Bird Count. So we wanted to do some scouting of the area today. We did! 6.5 hours and we still missed much of it.

Blue-winged Warbler at Schuylkill Center. Photo by Ken Januski.

One of the best warblers we did see, outside of the second Hooded Warbler, was the Blue-winged Warbler pictured above. We re getting used to seeing them hidden in the blooms of Crabapple trees. That is the tree pictured above, though most of the blossoms have been cropped out. It is quite a scene though, the bright yellow of the warbler against the brilliant white of the crabapple blossoms.

Ovenbird at Carpenters Woods. Photo by Ken Januski.

One of the most visible warblers of the last few days has been the Ovenbird, an often maddeningly secretive species, though it is also an extremely loud species. I have many Ovenbird photos. But when they stroll so close to you, seemingly oblivious, it is hard to resist one more photo. I normally wouldn't show it but I needed something new to add to the two warbler photos above. And most of the other photos I've taken over last few days have been of warblers portrayed in the last post.

Scarlet Tanager at Schuylkill Center. Photo by Ken Januski.

Finally a non-warbler species: the Scarlet Tanager. How is it possible to miss this brilliant bird, especially given its loud distinctive call? Yet it is in fact a bird that's hard to find. The bird pictured above is the first we've seen this year.

We also saw our first of year Baltimore and Orchard Orioles today at SCEE but I've taken too many Baltimore Oriole photos to be lured into taking any more.

Outside of taking photos for documentation purposes I'll spend the rest of the migration of 2014 doing sketches rather than taking photos. I promise!