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Kazakh Falconeer

12"x 16" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 2021   

Artist's Notes: The Saw Whet Owl is one of the smallest owls living in Canada. They stay clear of humans and flit between tree and ground in search of food. Their colouring is quite impressive, tan-brown-grey-white feather with white eye feathering  They subsist on a diet consisting largely of small rodents and insects.

Owl Eyes

24"x 24" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 2018   

Artist's Notes: The Saw Whet Owl is one of the smallest owls living in Canada. They stay clear of humans and flit between tree and ground in search of food. Their colouring is quite impressive, tan-brown-grey-white feather with white eye feathering  They subsist on a diet consisting largely of small rodents and insects.

Great Horned Owl

16"x 24" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 2004   SOLD

Artist's Notes: The Great Horned Owl is the largest of the owls living in Canada. You will rarely see them, and they usually inhabit the forests and farming areas. The odd one has been spotted in Toronto, one living along the lakeshore running paths, which ended up carrying away a local resident's smaller doggie while she was taking it for a walk!  Superb hunter, tremendously aerobatic in flight.  They subsist on a diet consisting largely of rodents.

Yellow Warbler In Nest

10"x 14" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 2002

Artist's Notes: Yellow Warblers are small perching birds seen in much of Canada.  They build a small tidy nest in the crotch of a tree - as seen here.  Their warbling song is hard to miss!

Nuthatch, Ontario

14"x 10" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 1997 - SOLD

Artist's Notes: One of a smaller number of year-round residents in many Ontario gardens, the cute little Nuthatch is a small nimble bird.  It hops along tree trunks in search of food, often insects, sometimes berries.  It's grey-blue plumage is offset by a white belly and white and black head.  Flight feathers are black and white.

Winter Blue Jay, Ontario

10"x 14" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 2003

Artist's Notes: Blue Jays are year-round, non-migratory birds seen in much of Canada. They are the official bird of the Province of Ontario, and lend their name and image to the Toronto professional baseball team.  It is said when a Blue Jay cries out, a storm is on its way.  They are medium-sized perching birds, with strong beaks and stunning plumage.

Winter Chickadee, Grey Skies, Ontario

8"x12" acrylic on stretched canvas, finished edges, ready to hang - 2004

Artist's Notes: The tiny Chickadee is a favourite of most birdwatchers.  They are regular visitors to bird feeders in winter and flit about somewhat like woodpeckers.

Hummingbird At Flower

8"x 12" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1995

Artist's Notes: Hummingbirds come in various sizes and colours in the tropics, but in Canada there are two we generally see - ruby-throated and emerald (seen here). They feed on nectar they lick from the stamens of flowers using a tongue contained in a long beak.  Watching them is a treat as they will hopefully hover in space for you.  Their tiny wings beat at a ferocious rate in order to maneouvre.  

Eastern Kingbird, Ontario

10"x 14" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1997

Artist's Notes: The Eastern Kingbird is a small to medium sized bird of lovely proportions.  Its design is well-balanced, its lines sleek.  It displays only two colours, a blue-green offset by startling white.  They are common hunters of insects on the farm fields of southwestern Ontario.

Loons On Lake, Muskoka

18"x 24" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1997

Artist's Notes: A pair of Common Loons are seen paddling slong on a Muskoka lake.  The birds are aquatic, with their webbed feet situated towards the rear of their bodies like penguins.  They feed on things in the lakes and often will vanish instantly, only to pop up to the surface some unexpected distance away after swimming underwater for minutes at a time.  When its time to fly, they need a long takeoff along the water, much like a float plane.  Finally, their call is synonymous with Canada, and they figure prominently in the nation's mythology.

Barn Swallow

8"x 12" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1995

Artist's Notes: Very common across rural Canada, the Barn Swallow is fun to watch.  Small birds of a purlpey-blue and orange colouring, they have a forked V-shaped (swallow) tail which helps them to be incredibly agile flyers.  They chase flying insects like bats do, and live in mud and grass built nests "glued" to the upper inside corners of barn interiors.

Female Cardinal - Winter

8"x 12" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1992

Artist's Notes: Female Cardinals are quite different from their brilliantly red male mates. Small to medium in size, females are more camouflaged, to protect them and their young.  They are year-round residents of their territory in Canada and have a distinctive call.

Female Mallard And Ducklings On Log

8"x 12" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1992

Artist's Notes: Mallard ducks are common across much of Canada.  Here we have a female with a fuzzy half-dozen ducklings sleeping on a log at water's edge.  The mother is alert for predators, as the youngsters are highly vulnerable to attack.  The male Mallard (not shown here) has a brilliant emerald green head.

Winter Cardinal

10"x 14" acrylic on canvas board, framed - 1992  SOLD

Artist's Notes: Male Cardinals are one of the few things that makes winter in Ontario enjoyable.  They add colour where there is little, and they add beautiful birdsong at a time of year when most of their feathered friends have headed south for the winter.  They survive on berries and seed left on trees, plants and in fields, and also enjoy a visit to our birdfeeders.

Trumpeter Swan

16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas, finished edges, ready to hang - 1992 - SOLD

Artist's Notes: The Trumpeter Swan is really the first sign of spring in southwestern Ontario.  They soar high above the landscape in great flocks, their wings whistling overhead. These are big birds, with long greyish necks and have a black mask like the Lone Ranger over their eyes.  They land each day after flying many miles to rest and eat, often at farm fields with spring melt water ponds.  Thus refreshed, they are on their way again, headed up to northern Canada's tundra regions which serve as their annual breeding grounds.

Taking Flight - Canada Geese At Sunrise - In Mist

16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas, finished edges, ready to hang - 1990 - SOLD

While the Loon is instantly Canadian to those living in Canada, the Canada Goose is trademark Canada to Americans.  These large geese of brown, grey, white and black populate lakes, rivers and city waterfronts and parks.  They eat things from under the water but are always seen grazing on the green grass.  The fly here and their in V-shaped flocks, the leader changing regularly to get a break.  Only one-quarter of the hundreds of thousands of Canada Geese in Ontario still migrate into the United States.  The rest will be seen flying..north...or west..or east in winter. They re searching for corn stubble fields to enjoy a meal during the snowy months.  At rest, they sleep on the snow covered ice on ponds and in harbours.  The young are hatched in the spring and grown rapidly.  The parents can be quite nasty with each other and with humans who get too close!  When one takes flight, however, they all do, as seen herein this scene at sunrise, as they go up into a misty sky.

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