My birds of 2015: birds of glass by Wayne Stratz

 

 Only two have not found new homes and they remain in my critter section of my etsy shop along with a couple butterflies and a funky turtle. A few were commissions. The male and female cardinal, although I had started the female cardinal when someone asked if I had ever created a cardinal, but the male cardinal was a commission from the start, as was the hummingbird. I remember the day a hummingbird visited a Hosta bloom, raising their favor in my garden. A couple birds were revisited designs: The Blue Jay and the Goldfinch both chosen for the patterns created by their plumage The Blue Jay was a chance to celebrate a corvid, a rare one with color. The Goldfinch that rare bird that passes up on bird feeders to eat seeds from a variety of my flowers. At the end of the summer opening the front door always meant a burst of gold flying from the sunflowers. And the Great Blue Heron and the American Kestrel were birds I loved that were new designs. I still see herons on a regular basis, in fact one flew over my car as we drove to Margaret's sisters on Christmas. Kestrels are a bird that I saw all the time in the late 70's and early 80's. I hear their numbers are dropping and I can say I rarely see them though I have not moved out of their range.

I ended the year creating two more heron mosaics when asked by a friend for one of them. A Wood Duck has been simmering in my mind for months. Maybe this will be the year.

What is your favorite bird?