Midsummer Waterfowl

Canada Geese
07-16-11
colored pencil

Despite yesterday's torrential downpours, the water level in the river is dropping. This creates more feeding opportunities for mallards and geese. Fish swim about in the pools forming in the rocky shallows below the dam but no herons have been hunting there lately.  These low levels seem normal for this time of year. These drawings were done in the last few days. It really feels like summer: hot and humid!

Canada Geese: 3 - Mallards: 2
07-17-11
colored pencil

Mallard feeding on top of the dam
07-18-11
colored pencil

Female mallard and two young
07-18-11
colored pencil

Ten ducklings today!

colored pencil & watercolor

Well, they're hardly ducklings anymore! No parent in sight and they were all huddled together on these submerged granite blocks. I think this is the remains of the brood of twelve that I saw a few weeks ago. Two have left or gone to duck heaven.  After drawing this group for about 30 minutes, they hopped up one by one, and plopped into the water to dabble in front of the arches of the Pleasant Street Bridge. As I left they were below and into the flat, sparkling riffles below.

On another, mostly-unrelated note, I've been drawing (doodling) whimsical cars. Just for fun. I like taking a basic concept and running it through the art machine and seeing all the variations that I'm able to create until I just run out of gas. I like the thrill of discovery. Some of you may find it tedious and surely, we don't all need to know what goes into the sausage! So, proceed at your own risk and go here to see the big collection: "Les dessins d'automobiles".

And so on and so forth!

Bonne journée!

Observations

There is still one family of ducks that has stayed near the island below the dam. I guess it's reasonable to assume that the small island offers enough protection from predators (Which: turtles? large fish?). The proof is in the pudding: this mother and her brood of nine ducklings continue to explore and dabble in the pools and riffles of the river. A few weeks ago I studied a family with a dozen young but I haven't seen them since they went downstream below the arched bridge.

This group surprised me actually. I had become engrossed in drawing a heron and was alone with my thoughts when the duck family splashed into view. If you just sit still for a while and mind your business, you never know what you might be privileged to see.

The heron was graceful and comical. Without any regard for me, it gingerly stalked from rock to rock, at times carefully feeling the bottom of the riverbed. It positioned itself before a little "chute" of moving water and was soon eying the flow for fishy morsels. In quick succession, two small fish were caught and swallowed whole. These, of course quickly followed by a drink of water to wash it down (I wonder how long the fish live as they slide down that long heron throat… at times like this I'm glad I'm not a fish!). Eventually, he caught a larger fish and I observed the eating process again. I'll spare you the details but it does seem more difficult than actually catching the fish!

Here's a larger view of my heron sketch.

Low water

It's late-July and the water is very low in the Charles River. Here's a drawing in purple colored pencil that I made late last week. Near the rocks in the upper right at the face of the dam is a family of ducks: a mother and nine ducklings.

I sketched these very rapidly with ball point pen. The ducklings are in constant movement dabbling in the gentle swirling water. The mother is vigilant but relaxed.

We had a bit of rain yesterday but it has been rather dry this summer so it should be safe to raise a family of ducks at this small dam. There has been another duck family settling in; they have a dozen babies!

That's all for now