in Which the Weather Cooperates

It was not exactly good weather last week, but between the rain showers and the 20mph winds, the Hounds and I managed to get out and about, and we had some lovely walks.  One thing I like about Spring here is that it signals the return of the Great Egrets, who spend their winters much farther south.  We had most excellent views of several of these magnificent birds on our walks.

Well, actually, I had excellent views.  Pippin and Truman expressed utter indifference.  They prefer to chase the sparrows in their back yard.

On several different days there was an egret fishing at the same spot in one of our favorite parks.

At one point the bird seemed to notice our presence, and stretched its amazing neck for a better view.

It didn't seem perturbed by us, but when a second egret arrived, the first one took flight.

I also enjoyed watching a Red-tailed Hawk soaring high overhead.

On another day, we visited Columbia Park, which is a bit farther away.  We don't go very often, but it's always a pleasant place.  In addition to the wonderful river views, there is a large pond:

A lone pelican graced the waters.  They are also migratory.

At the riverside, we were treated to a view of one of the riverboats navigating beneath a bridge:

During our walk, we found this lovely stream that runs from the pond to the river:

And there was an enormous tree -- dachshund in stroller provided for scale!

Here are two bonus pics of the amazing Great Egret:

Okay, that's plenty of Nature for this post.  Let's look at the art I did last week.

For our Monday "freeform" session, I chose a pic of Harlech Castle in Wales, did a quick pencil sketch, and used watercolor to paint it, as usual. It wasn't that detailed, but it turned out fine, and I do like the clouds:

On Wednesday we chose some peculiar rocks in a badlands area, under a full moon.  I used both ink and watercolor.  I enjoyed trying to capture the shading on the rocks:

For our Friday session we opted for a rhino close-up.  I did a careful pencil drawing, then spent a lot of time on an ink drawing, and finished it off with some watercolor:

That's all for this past week.  There are signs of life in all the plants I put in my garden, so perhaps next week there will be a flower update.  

Have a wonderful week out there, everyone!