winter delight in the art of Sue deLearie Adair

Dark-eyed Junco; etching with colored pencil by Sue deLearie Adair as seen at Cornell Ornithology Lab

Summer has been lingering here, but there have been some moments of cool crispness. Birds are getting itchy to prepare for the change in seasons.

The neighborhood House Sparrows have been behaving differently, flocking more so these days, and the Goldfinches are loving our sunflowers. Here in Southeast PA, more bird species will leave than arrive for winter. But one of my favorite birds is about to become common after not being seen all summer. So the blooms fade, but the Juncos delight.

Dark-eyed Juncos surely dug our bird feeders last winter and hung around into spring before they headed north to nest. I could have very well seen a junco while in Ithaca, NY where we saw the splendid bird art of Sue deLearie Adair on exhibit at the Ornithology Lab of Cornell University.

Her art was behind glass so it was a bugger to photograph, but the junco cooperated and then a sideward glance caught evidence that her art can be quite colorful.

"Day-time Night Heron" Black-Crowned Night-Heron; Watercolor, colored and graphite pencils by Sue deLearie Adair as seen at Cornell Ornithology Lab