Friday's fascinations: Paper Sculpter Calvin Nicholls

I came across  a wonderful artist this week, and just felt the need to share his work with you.  His name is Calvin Nicholls and he creates animals out of paper. And he seems to create all my favorite animals too!

Here is his chameleon:

His sculptures are made using only paper and a tiny bit of glue, along with a scalpel for cutting the paper and then wooden and metal tools to create texture. There is a short explanation of his technique on his website.

He makes many of his sculptures for use in advertising campaigns, for example:

I love the intricacy of it all. Gosh, this guy has patience.  Look at this porcupine and hedgehog with all those tiny quills of paper:

Gosh, I'd love to have one of these......What an amazing artist.  Here is his Boreal Owl:

Such precise intricate work. Hope you've enjoyed seeing it.  To see more and learn more about him, his website is http://www.calvinnicholls.com

The Colors of Columbine - Friday's fascinations, facts and folklore

After dinner this evening, I went outside to pick some Columbines from the garden.  We have masses in flower right now.  They must have re-seeded well last year and just look spectacular. Some of them are really tall, and in lots of different shades.

I just love the shape of the petals of Columbines (Aquilegia).  It is quite a complex shape and one I wish I could sculpt.  I have actually made some silver earrings of the seed pods of Columbines but that was quite a few years ago....

The flower name people say: The name Columbine comes from the appearance of the flower looking to some as a circle of doves (Latin: columba) drinking around a fountain?????

The Aquilegia name is because the knobbed spurs look like the talons of an eagle (Latin: aquila)!!! Hmm...what's in a name anyhow??....

We, and the hummingbirds, are graced with such a wonderful abundance this year so its nice to bring some indoors to enjoy as well.  

Which is your favorite color? I think I like the soft blue/purple the best....

Puffin....Nuffin - Friday's facts, fascinations and folklore

To choose a bird for my Friday F, F and F, I usually think of what birds I've seen during the week.  The one that kept coming to mind this week was a Puffin!  Now, I haven't seen a live puffin this week (or even a dead one!), but just an embroidered logo puffin the golf sweater my husband was wearing yesterday!

 

Photo by 60North

Here's a Simon Drew picture we have in our home - "Puffin....Nuffin".  I love Simon Drew's work - we have  quite a few of his drawings around.  You see a lot of his work around the UK but not much here in the US.  He uses word play in many of his illustrations - so obviously we have similar obtuse wordy minds!

The colors on puffins beaks are so bright and give them a comical look - which seems to have led to their nickname of "the clowns of the sea". 

Puffins are poor flyers and especially struggle to become airborne.  They flap their wings at an amazing 300 - 400 beats per minute to maintain flight.  Landing is not their forte either and they are often seen crashing or tumbling over as they land - adding to their clown-like persona!  They are however  excellent swimmers and their wings seem better adapted for underwater "flying" than flying in the air. 

 Puffin Trio Photo by Nagillum

In the 1800s and 1900s, the puffin was commonly hunted for it's meat and its eggs. This led to a severe decline of the world's puffin population, even completely eliminating some puffin colonies. Luckily in the late 20th and now 21st century, puffins enjoy better protection and conservation work is being carried out, particularly in North America, to help to save the remaining puffin population.

They mate for life and live for around 25 years, with mating pairs producing normally only one egg a year.

Photo by 60North

Doesn't this one look sweet with a little stone in his mouth.....makes you want to add a caption to it.....  They would make a lovely metal sculpture necklace....just need to figure out how to add the colorful beak and legs.....

Zapper, Zipper, Outfield or Swatting? - Friday's facts, fascinations and folklore

When I was in Mexico this week, I didn't get to see any Caracara's - the national bird of Mexico but did see a male Vermillion Flycatcher.  Always a beautiful sight to behold with those wonderful scarlet feathers.

Photo by Bob Miller

An interesting fact about the vermillion flycatcher is that the male often seeks to initiate copulation by delivering a butterfly or other showy insect to the female.  Maybe the equivalent of oysters, champagne and chocolate????

And if you are ever lucky enough to see a group of vermillion flycatchers hanging out together - be sure to impress your friends by saying "look at that zapper of flycatchers"!  Yes, groups of flycatchers have many collective nouns, including an "outfield", a "swatting", a "zapper" and a "zipper".  I wonder why there are so many words for them?  Anyone know?

Frog ducks - Friday's fascinations, facts and folklore

We have regular ducks coming to our pond at the moment.  The most frequent are some Hooded Mergansers who are here every day.  Both male and female Hooded Mergansers have a crest at the back of their head - the "hood" - but the males' is stunning with the sharp black and white contrast.

Photo courtesy of John White

Yesterday, four females were all spending some time together on our little duck float.  Wonder what was going through their heads???

It was a mallard in the duck float last year that inspired my duck float ring:

One of the things I love best about Hooded Mergansers, apart their handsome crests, is the sound of their call.  They are often referred to as "frog ducks" because of this call - which can be heard half a mile away.

I tried to find a sound snippet to embed here so you could hear it - but instead you'll have to click on this hooded merganser call link and listen to the frog duck!   Once you've heard it, you'll not forget it!

They seem to hang out in our pond quite happily with some mallards at the moment....but they are renown for enjoying the company of wood ducks, so I'm hoping some of those will join them soon too.

Do you have any new spring visitors?

Egg-xactly right - Friday's fascinations, facts and folklore

What is the right number of eggs to lay?

Photo by Woodlywonderworks

Some birds are termed determinate egg layers because they lay only a certain number of eggs and no more.  The crow, budgie, tricolored blackbird and many shorebirds are examples of determinate egg layers.  If an egg is destroyed, the parent(s) will simply tend to whatever remains.  In experiments, it is also seen that these birds do not curtail egg laying if eggs are added to the nest.

Other birds are termed indeterminate egg layers.  Three types of indeterminate egg layers are seen:

• removal indeterminacy - after  laying a clutch of eggs, if one is stolen/destroyed/removed, the female will lay another in its place.  Examples are goldeneye ducks, California quail, cockatiels, coots and of course - fowl like chicken! In one experimental case where an egg was removed every day from a Northern Flicker's nest, the female flicker laid 71 eggs in 73 days!
• addition indeterminacy, - if eggs are added to the nest in experiments, the birds layer fewer eggs than normal
• removal and addition indeterminacy - birds respond to egg removal by laying more, and respond to egg addition by layer fewer. 

Other factors obviously come into play too - for example, light levels, temperature, food supply, longevity of species, etc, etc.
.

 Photo by Michelle Eve

Please don't try any experiments at home! It is illegal to remove bird's eggs from nests (Migratory Bird Treaty Act 1918).

Do birds taste good? - Friday's fascinations, facts, and folklore.

No, I'm not proposing that we at Birdland have had a change of heart and now want to eat all the birds here - rather I'm talking about the taste buds that birds have!

Photo by idahoptv

Cats have around 500 taste buds on their tongue, dogs 2,000, humans and pigs 15,000 and birds only a few dozen to a few hundred.

Photo by Correa Carvalho

Sometimes this is helpful because birds can eat distasteful fruits and nuts that rodents are repelled by. It is thought that some plants have evolved a bad taste in order to be dispersed by birds rather than mammals. While rodents tend to chew seeds and fruit, birds often swallow them whole, maikng them much more likely to germinate later.

Photo of a woodpecker's tongue - 3 times the length of his bill.

Photo courtesy of Hilton Pond

Yet, if you watch Harold my parrot - he definitely has favorite foods - and at different times of the day. He loves fresh squash seeds and bananas at breakfast time, then cashews for cocktail hour. For cashews, he'll turn in a circle up to 5 times or climb all over his cage in anticipation and then relishes every little bit...not dropping the slightest crumb. Other food he doesn't care if he drops - having one little taste then can't be bothered!

So while they may have few taste buds, it doesn't mean they don't relish certain tastes/textures...


This photo above of me and a mockingbird was taken in the Galapagos Islands a few years ago. The mockingbird is on my shoulder not because it thinks I'm wonderful :-( but because I am holding a water bottle. While there is plenty of salt water on/around the island, there is very little fresh water. The birds seem to have learned that it is "work" for the body to desalinate the salt/sea water and therefore, they try and get fresh water from the tourists. If you accidentally drop your water bottle on the ground there, you will have a flock of birds around it in seconds, hoping to get a little drop of fresh water! This guy on my shoulder was hoping I would open my bottle and pour some out for him.

Do you notice any favorite tastes in the birds around you?

Friday's fascinations, facts, and folklore - Bird Bills vs Beaks

What is the difference between beaks and bills?

It used to be that parrots, hawks, eagles and vultures had beaks - curved downwards structures for tearing fruit or flesh, and all other birds had bills - more dainty pointed structures.

Photo by Praziquantel

Nowadays however, either term can be used for birds as the distinction has been lost and the terms are used interchangeably.

The beak can also refer to a wide range of other animals, including turtles, some insects, some fish and a few mammals. But the bill is only used for birds (apart from the duck-billed platypus!)...but maybe the dog species shown in the photo below...?

Photo by Nathan