I’m in Charleston this weekend for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition . It’s the largest wildlife art show in the country. I thought I’d give you a peek at my booth.
If you’re in Charleston this weekend, I hope you’ll stop by SEWE! If you can’t make it to the show, stop by my website and check out the new work. www.melaneifain.com
I just spotted, and identified a pair of Black-throated Green Warblers. I’d seen them in June, but couldn’t get a good enough look to positively identify them. This is their migratory route, so they are more than likely heading south for the winter.
Black-throated Green Warbler - photo by Marie Read
Here’s a good link from the folks at Cornell University.
I have been sharpening up my shooting skills at the San Antonio Gun Club. I’m shooting skeet in a women’s league. Because some of you will want to know, here’s what I’m shooting:
The model 12 is a great gun and I love the way it shoots, but I prefer the over & under to shoot skeet with. However, the over & under has left its mark.
And that bruise came AFTER I had the stock worked on.
Here’s a fine fellow for your Thursday. A long-necked crane.
Long-necked Crane
Here’s my Chinese Nightingale
Chinese Nightingale etching by Melanie Fain
And though it’s unrelated to this project, here’s Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of The Chinese Nightingale.
Another piece in this special project. Here is the Orange Blossom with Bee etching
Orange Blossom with bee
The finished piece
I’ve been really enjoying working on this project
I’m working on a special edition of etchings, not quite ready to tell you ALL about them but I thought I’d give you a peek at the work in progress. These will be for sale in very limited quantities, probably in September or October.
Halloween Pennant
and
Red Panda with Berries
Check back this week to see more in the series. As soon as everything is finalized, I’ll tell you all about this special project.
As tropical storm Don heads south and west, the drought in this part of Texas continues. The wild creatures are hungry, and eating things they don’t normally eat.
I’m using Bobbex, it’s stinky, but it works.
I’ve been raising Poison Dart Frogs for about three years. I love them. They are fun to watch in their vivariums, they occasionally sing to each other, and they eat fruit flies with abandon.
The bright colors tell their possible predators that they are dangerous and stay away. Before you get alarmed, the Poison Dart Frogs are poisonous in the wild, but in captivity, they don’t have the same diet, and therefore don’t make poison. If you are super interested in Poison Dart Frogs, please check out http://www.saurian.net/
They are small frogs – this graphic from National Geographic shows their size in relation to a paper clip!
Dart frogs are members of the Dendrobatidae and I’ve had three pair:
“Bumble Bee” dart frogs (D. leucomelas) are yellow and black
and two BIG blue dart frogs (D. tinctorius “Azureus”)
Dart frogs are happier living in color coded community. In the past year, one green and one yellow have died. So yesterday, I visited my local pet store.
Let the frog shopping begin!
Where’s Waldo?
Where's Waldo?
It was a bit of an event trying to find and capture the little froggies.
tiny frogs are good at hiding
Frogs selected, and I stopped to visit with one of the pet shop cats
You’ll notice the cat is eyeing my new frogs
Back in the studio, the frogs are released into their new homes
Welcome home little CX
It’s a little blurry, but you get the idea
Nano taking a swim, or is that Trinket? I can't really tell.
Just for size comparison…
Domino poses for the camera
Stay tuned for more Poison Dart Frog adventures.
I’ve been using the homemade “old standby” lard-peanut butter-cornmeal-oatmeal mix for my suet feeders. Naturalist, and NPR reporter, Julie Zickefoose has changed my mind. She wrote a thoughtful and informative post on the dangers of the “old standby” food. You can read that post here. Julie and others believe that the very rich diet of lard and peanut butter is causing health issues in the birds. Add chick feed (without additive antibiotics) to the mixture supplies better nutrition for our beautiful bird friends.
I’ll be getting a bag of chick feed on the next trip into town and trying her recipe. If you feed the birds in the winter, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read this and consider making the improved recipe.
Blog post: Zick Dough Improved
Here’s the recipe for a small batch:
NEW ZICK DOUGH: SMALL BATCH
Melt in the microwave and stir together:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup lard
In a large mixing bowl, combine
2 cups chick starter – get the kind without antibiotics
2 cups quick oats
1 cup yellow cornmeal and
1 cup flour
Add melted lard/peanut butter mixture to the combined dry ingredients and mix well.
Julie also gives a “big batch” recipe in her blog post.
