Painting Update, a few Spring Birds

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Redtailed Hawk Hunting



Morning Doves, Female Northern Oriole,Downey Wood Pecker

House Wren






Stage Five

Stage Six

New Painting

Over the last 2 weeks I have been working on a new commissioned painting. I am working from several photos that I took a few weeks ago. This Is Molly, she loves to swim and run in the fields. I wanted to capture the semi wet look to the fur as if she was just swimming. I am about a third done and will be posting updates as they happen.

Earthday

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Now with all the heavy rain in our rear view mirror we had some fantastic weather this weekend. On Sunday, Earth day, I made my way over to Bethel's Bennett Memorial Park and joined a group of about 80 others to watch Hope Douglas from Wind Over Wings, Inc. a nonprofit, wildlife rehabilitation and education center. Hope gave an entertaining and insightful presentation about raptors as well as offering ideas of simple things everyone can do to help the wildlife and the environment thrive. This offered a great opportunity to get some shots of a Great horned owl, Saw-whet Owl, and a Rough Legged Hawk. The presentation was put on by the Bethel Land Trust, and PATH.

On a walk earlier in the day I captured a photo of a bird that I have never seen before. Later on I identified it as a Yellow Rumped Warbler, also called a Myrtle Warbler. Hope everyone got a chance to get outside and watch as the Earth awakens from its winter slumber! Have a great week.
Bill

A True Tuesday Story...(get ready to laugh)

Editors note: The following experience happened to my good friend Sam Dodge this morning. Its so funny I had to share it. NO photoshop has been done to any of the following photos.


So I am driving to work, bumping to some tunes when all of a sudden this little mouse appears on my windshield. I was like holey moley, my old nemesis, Mr. Mouse! Let me preface by saying that we have met before. For the last couple of months I have opened the hood of my car to find a pile of insulation on top of my engine. It appears that Mr. Mouse has been living in the liner on my hood, apparently a Saab makes a great mouse house. But during the last snow storm while trying to remove my car from a snow bank I revved the engine so loud that the mouse popped out just as it had this morning and took off across the frozen tundra. I thought this was the last I would see of Mr. Mouse…

…Wrong!

So this little squeaker is just sitting right on top of my windshield wiper. I mean this little guy is just asking to be catapulted off my windshield and right into oncoming traffic. This is my moment of glory, of sweet revenge, but I hesitate like a little weak vegetarian(sort of) man that I am and the next thing I know he is scaling the windshield to the top of my car. I veer my car up the industrial park like a mad man trying to shake the mouse from the top of my car but this mouse is good. I mean he is like the Mel Gibson of mice. I pull into work and he is just chilling behind my Thule rack cowering. With the assistance of John Cramer I was able to scare the mouse out into the woods out back. Yes it took two grown men to remove one small mouse from the top of my car, and yes, we took the necessary precautions and put leather gloves on…

…John seems to think that he will be some creatures lunch today. But my guess is that he emailing his buddies right now about the morning he had.

-Sam

3 for Monday

Three For Monday.

The talk of the morning has to be the rain that we received starting on Sunday. Today we woke up to heavy flooding of all small streams and rivers. I tried to get out and get some shots of it this morning but it seemed every where I tried to get to the road was closed. I did make it over to the Stietzel Family Farm on Gallows Hill Road in Redding. I took some images of the small creek that had grown to be over a hundred feet wide in a few swampy sections. Hope the ducks are staying dry, their coop is nearly touching the waters edge.

On Saturday I headed over to the Richter Art Center to see how my Photos did in the annual Juried Photography Show and Sale. Besides being awarded Honorable Mention (4th out of 51 entries) I was happy to meet other like minded folks. Winning photo. I am looking forward to the art show they are having this summer, I hope to enter a few paintings!

Finally I will leave you with a few parting shots, First is an Osprey I watched fishing in a swamp on the Bethel/Redding line, second is a KillDeer that was picking through the lawn , I had no idea how red their eye is.
Have a great week, look for some painting updates to come very soon!
Bill

Photography Show

I wanted to let anyone know who lives in the Danbury area that I will be featuring 3 photos in the Richter Arts Association's photography show and sale. The show is this Saturday at 3 p.m. The show will continue Sunday and on April 21 and 22 at the Richter Art Center, 100 Aunt Hack Road.Danbury For details, call (203) 746-1526.

New Painting #4

I have been working on the water and rear leg area. I plan to zoom in on the rock and then even out the fur and adjust color and texture until I'm happy. I have started 2 more paintings, a Blue Heron and a dog named Dexter. I'm hoping to get a the next few days in the studio. I also enabled a "Comment Feature" in the blog so you can leave me some words of wisdom!

Shed Hunting

Yours Truly on the most successful shed hunt yet!


Finding any dropped antlers is always a great feeling, its hard to explain the accomplishment I feel when I find even one an antler of any size. I guess the best way to sum it up is that it is like a treasure hunt. A hunt based on observations made over the past 6 months. I look at topographic maps and locate food sources, bedding areas and the trails that go to and from.

Scouring known buck territory this past Saturday I found 5 antlers in 2.5 hours. The two larger ones were from the same deer and lay less then 3 feet apart. To give perspective last year I searched over 20+ hours and found only one small, old, well chewed antler. So, did I get lucky? I’m sure to some degree I was. Are there academics to this shed hunting game? Absolutely.

If you want to bring up a competitive topic among the whitetail fraternity, mention the words shed hunting. With a cult following, those who commit heart and soul to searching for the ultimate antler literally live for the annual shedding phenomenon.

When is the Best Time?
April 1st marks the day that I begin searching. Is this day particularly magical? For those who treasure each and every antler they find, I suppose it does hold some mystical intrigue. But wait! Don’t bucks begin shedding their antlers shortly after the rut?

In consideration of the whitetail’s annual cycle, bucks begin to lose their antlers shortly after the rut. Where I do much of my searching for sheds, the months of March and April are golden. Some antlers drop as early as mid-December, but most fall throughout the months of February and March. That said, with every rule there are exceptions. On rare occasions I’ve seen bucks still wearing an antler in April. The other reasons to get out early spring is the lack of new plant growth which can hinder your ability to not only see an antler but also make movement through thick areas more difficult. Second , the longer the antler lays on the forest floor the more likely the squirrels and mice will find them and begin to chew them up. Antlers have high nutritional value and rarely last more than a year or two before they are completely eaten. In one case I have found one that looks to be much older.

Where to Look
When I begin my routine of checking likely spots, I first drive as many different back roads as possible to look for well-used trails. Those exiting bigger timber and crossing roads into feeding fields are most visible. By well used, I’m not talking about scant tracks in the snow or dirt that appear to be used every couple of days. I’m speaking of those resembling hard packed cattle trails. We’ve all seen them; they’re the ones that cause us to hammer on the brakes, back up the truck and gawk in amazement! These are the rainbows that may inevitably lead you to your pot of gold! When deer movement is concentrated, it can only mean one thing - they use that trail to move from bedding to feeding and vice versa. Most antlers are found in either of three areas; in or near their beds, on route to feeding areas, or right at the feed itself.

Most sheds are found at feeding areas. Regardless of where you look, be thorough and pay close attention to detail.

Be Diligent and Thorough
Don’t be fooled though. Yes, you can get lucky once in a while and find the ideal spot. But for the most part, if you want to find freshly fallen antlers, be prepared to put on the miles. On good days like this past weekend the weather will be mild and maybe you’ll find a few. Other days you’ll have to deal with Mother Nature’s wrath and may come up empty-handed. Sometimes you’ll see an antler from long distances because the entire thing is visible. Other times you may notice only a tip of a tine sticking up through the grass or snow.

Smaller antlers are of course most common. To find a matching set well that’s something we all dream of. Although I found a matched set, it was clear that they were from last years shed and had been badly chewed to the point that some of the tines were thin as knife blades. Each time I lay eyes on a set of truly spectacular sheds, my heart pounds. It may be the anticipation that I’ll be the first human to every touch those antlers … words can’t describe the elation.

Why Do Antlers Shed?
Like other ungulates, whitetails lose their antlers for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is to allow for new growth - much like a child loses their teeth to allow for adult teeth to grow; the primary difference being that deer lose their antlers every year. Many suggest that another reason is to alleviate stress during the more difficult times of their annual cycle. Winter can impose harsh conditions on deer and by shedding their antlers, they simply conserve energy.

Friday Turkeys!

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I think patience pays off, after taking about 150 mediocre wild turkey photos in the past 2 weeks I decided to sit and wait for them. I got to the road crossing where I have repeatedly seen them nice and early today. With a big old cup of coffee I sat and waited it out where the light was epic yesterday. I never thought I would have a shot where you can actually see the turkeys breath!
Enjoy your Friday
Bill

Spring has Sprung!

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Had a great morning shooting pictures down by the train tracks. Its amazing how much life is awakening all in one warm day! Here are a few shots from this morning. I would say this is my best Kingfisher photo yet, and today marks a first for me. Although the picture is crummy, I identified my first Widgeon (the duck with the green on its head). I know I said I was going to focus on painting but there is so much life I can not resist going out with the camera!

Cheers, enjoy the weather!
Bill

New Painting #3

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I am happy to say that I was able to work last night for a few hours. I am having difficulty getting photographs to capture the correct color but I feel like I am getting better. If you compare the 3 images in this series there is a LOT of variation that really isn't accurate. For example this latest image is slightly reddish. Hopefully you can get the gist of the progress made. Enjoy! I am posting some wild turkey pictures tomorrow please stop back!

New Painting #2

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"Unfinished Stage 2"

I was able to squeeze in a few hours of painting last night. I am starting to really enjoy working on this. Over all, the orange color is too dark and saturated. This tends to happen when I work at night under my bright studio lights. I have learned to use this to my advantage during certain stages such as this one. Now that I have deep saturation of the fur in place I will do several transparentwashes of white and light yellow and add softness and dept to the next step. I also need to work on the rock and decide how it will 'meet' the water.

New Painting!

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"unfinished Red Fox painting"

Hello and welcome back. Hope every one had a great St Patrick's day weekend. I sure did. We were hit pretty hard with a snowstorm on Friday, large puffy flakes changed over to very granular ice that had the consistency of sugar. Got to love New England weather.

I started a new painting, this one is quite small, 11"x14". I have enjoyed water reflections and fur so much when I saw this image I wanted to paint it right away. Keep in mind this is early on in the painting and lots of refinement is still to come. Check back soon for updates of this and other paintings. I plan to take a slight break from photography to focus back on painting again for the next few months.
Bill

Weekend Fox

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A quick post for Monday. First I would like to mention that I have started a new painting. Also a fox. The idea of working on 2 or more paintings at once has worked well in the past year. This allows me to not only work more efficiently (not having to wait for paint to dry). This technique also allows me to keep fresh and not get 'stale' on one painting. I hope to have some mages of the new painting in the next few days.

A quick note: For you wine lovers I will be having a artshow/opening at Hopkins Vineyard in the scenic Litchfield Hills. Show will be July and August with an opening date to be determined. Stay tuned!

Finally I am leaving you with two parting shots. I was just headed back from an early morning hike on Saturday and spotted a fox in a lower field near my house. As I got closer I noticed what he was doing. A small group of mallards were nestled in waiting for the sun to rise and were about to become breakfast. Fortunately for them they spotted the fox as he made a bold approach and scared them off.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who visits me here at williamkramer.com! Last month ( February) was the highest amount of traffic my site has ever seen! I have lots of new and exciting adventures planned for the spring and summer so please, keep checking in! I am off to Colorado today and hope to bring back some nice images and get some good boarding in!

I will leave you with a few shots of some Ring Necked Ducks that have been staying in a small stream in Bethel for the past 4 days. The are very attractive and take to flight as soon as you get anywhere near them!

Out for a Sunday Drive.

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Went for a nice drive on this cold Sunday morning and had some great action. I was very surprised to see a pair of Hooded Mergansers swimming in a small stream where running water was not frozen. Seems like this pair is bit early on the arrival. Maybe the unseasonably warm weather may have thrown them off. Also saw a few deer bedded down with one was actually sleeping with its eyes shut. A first for me. Finally, a very plump Pheasant sitting ona stone wall staring right at me!

Idaho Utah Trip

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Hello and thanks for stopping back. I just got back last night from a Western trip to Park City, Utah, then drove to Sun Valley Idaho. All of this was in the name of snow. Deep dry powder so deep you cant even walk in it. While I didn't get a chance to take as many photos as I would have liked, I did manage to squeeze off a few nice ones while snowboarding. If you ever get the chance to head West I highly suggest visiting these places! The image with the circular clouds is an interesting formation I have never seen back East called a Lenticular Cloud.
Have a great weekend and stop back soon. Headed to Colorado in less than a week!

In the News

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This feature ran today in the Housatonic Living, which is the arts and leisure section of the Brookfield Journal, The Bethel Beacon, The New Milford Times, The Litchfield Enquirer and The Kent Good Times Dispatch. Total circulation 58,400!

Cold Waxwings

Cedar Waxwing
(Bombycilla cedrorum) The Cedar Waxwing is the most specialized fruit-eating bird. This bird's primary foods are fleshy fruits that are high in sugar content. Like tropical birds with this diet, Cedar Waxwings are social all year long, they nest in loose clusters, and at times they wander widely in flocks in search of temporarily abundant sources of fruit. Because of their reliance on summer ripening fruit for feeding their hatchlings, they are among the latest birds to nest in North America.

It seems everytime I spot a Wax Wing it is either very high in the top of a tree or flying around so fast I can not get close enough for a good photo. Today, with very cold temperatures it seems like these were reluctant to go anywhere. I find these to be one of the most visually attractive birds we have around here. I was happy to get these photos mid winter when most of our birds have migrated south.

Blue Jays

Observation sketch from my Bird feeder

Although sometimes disliked because they chase smaller birds away from feeders, Blue Jays are among the handsomest of birds. They often bury seeds and acorns, and since many are never retrieved they are, in effect, tree planters. They regularly mob predators, and their raucous screaming makes it easy to locate a hawk or a roosting owl. Although seen all year, they are migratory and travel in large loose flocks in spring and fall. Birds from farther north replace local populations in winter.

description 12" (30 cm). Bright blue above with much white and black in the wings and tail; dingy white below; black facial markings; prominent crest.