I'd been hearing a bird (a Bell's Vireo) for several days singing near a busy suburban intersection that we frequently passed. Guess what? That proves you (too!) can find interesting birds anywhere! We're here to help you add some birds to your life.

You may have noticed the whistling calls of Baltimore orioles the past month or so. Now they're quieting down. That's because the males have their territories mapped out, the females have built nests, and the males will wait for eggs to hatch while not giving away the nest's location. Adult males are brilliant black and orange, while the females are a mango tone with blackish-brown wings. Their nests typically cling to an overhanging branch between 20 to 30 feet high. They are woven from fine, stringy material first, strung around branches to make the frame for a cupped structure into which the eggs are laid. Often we don't see these nests until the leaves drop in fall. Then we wonder "how could I have missed that?" Well, evolution teaches many tricks, and orioles mastered them all.

Three days ago while sharing the Merlin birding app with my wife Sue, we picked up the call of the American kestrel. I'd predicted they'd show up again this spring as their are numerous potential nest holes to consider in our dead tree swamp behind the house. Sure enough, both a male and female hung out all afternoon, and the male dined on a freshly caught vole. The first American kestrel I saw flew out of the woods at Elburn Forest Preserve. I was thirteen years old, an eager young birder trying to add species to my life list. The bird swung over a summer cornfield making its "killee killee killee" call, likely to impress a mate, and I eagerly checked the bird's name in my Peterson's Field Guide to the birds. Back then, we called kestrels "sparrow hawks." Those early birding days were magical, as new species entered my sphere of awareness. Over many decades I've seen hundreds of kestrels, both male and female, across numerous states. Often they show up hunting from roadside telephone wires. They also hover over ditches catching voles as this one did. I've seen them in winter, spring, summer, and fall, as they are year-round residents here in Illinois. I've done numerous paintings of kestrels over the years, including the two shown, one in watercolor (male landing) the other in acrylic paint. A long time ago, when I was a teenager, I got invited to the home of Robert Van Kampen, the financier who saw my paintings in the Manor Pancake House in St. Charles, IL. He secretly worked as a falconer, and one of his birds was a kestrel, a male as I recall. Van Kampen was an ardent Right-wing evangelical Christian, a creationist and ardent Bible-beater. He'd painted a cross on the breast feathers of his kestrel because the bird's face pattern reminded him of Christian Crusaders. Even at the time, I thought that was pretty stupid. Now that I've published two books on the history of Christianity and its warped effects on politics, culture, and the environment, I realize that my aversion to his theological instincts back then were spot on. I later worked for the man as a graphic artist in marketing, but they transferred me to Philadelphia, and then closed down the department. But two years later, he hired me to paint two large (48" x 48") paintings of a peregrine falcon for either end of his board room

Last night I produced a Live Painting during a two-hour Ducks Unlimited banquet in Orland Park, IL.Last year, I raised $1000 with a watercolor painting of seven waterfowl. The previous year I raised around $300 with a painting of Pintails in Flight, all produced in the two-hour window of the banquet from open to dinner to Live Auction. The challenge of finding subject matter that appeals to the audience of bidders is always interesting. This year, I decided to create an acrylic version of the watercolor illustration I'd done of All the North American Ducks. I did some "pre-painting" of the background to allow focus on the ducks and geese, as there were more than two dozen of them to portray. Doing so in such a short time frame means emphasizing the pattern, not the fine details of each species. It's fun to do these, but last night I barely finished in time for the Live Auction part of the evening. The hostess walked the painting around the room and it sold for $300. Not what I hoped to raise for Ducks Unlimited, but every bit helps in the long-term. That organization raises billions to buy and protect North American wetlands, and I admire that. For the last three years I've attended banquets and painted "live" as a sort fun addition to the event. People don't often get to see "Artists In Action" and will come close to observe. One of the attendees noticed that I'd forgotten to include a bufflehead in the painting, so I added that! Hunters are often solid people, eager to contribute to the "good of the cause," and this event is one of Ducks Unlimited's best banquets. We may differ in our interests or approach when it comes to ducks, geese and swans, and I'm likely a bit more politically liberal than many of these folks, but in an era when the Trump administration is gutting environmental laws and wildlife protections, I side with those who put their money (and their paintings) where their heart is. Here's to all of you. Happy hunting. You've earned it.