Countdown to Spring

04-05-17 detail

Hooray! The geese are pairing up. They are camping out and picking out curtains for the babies' room. Soon, the park will be home to toddling goslings. Grackles rush back and forth across the river; how these mobs disappear as soon as they encounter tree branches intrigues me. These streamlined black birds are not silent as they fidget on their twiggy perches. And then they blast off again.

Robins of course rule the season at all levels of my interaction with them: in trees, up on wires and branches, and the fascinating chess game they play on the greening lawns. They chatter and sing from sunup to sundown.

The river roars past in a full Spring spate, fishermen tentatively test the quieter eddies for fishy nibbles. Some are rehearsing. Others are acting.

Two Canada Geese
04-10-2017
charcoal, ink

Canada Goose
04-12-2017
charcoal, ink

Grackles
04-14-2017
colored pencil, ink, charcoal