Painting My World

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      This is my oil painting of a Grasshopper Sparrow. I suspect it’s a male because it was singing. Males will often sing to attract mates and to protect their territories; and since adult males and females look alike at all times of the year, the fact that it was singing is the only indicator I have to identify it as a possible male.       Did you know this bird has a teeny-tiny sliver of yellow feathers on the shoulders of its wings? Reading that Grasshopper Sparrows used to be called Yellow-winged Sparrows led me to examine my photographs closer. And voila, yellow! See photo below.      Grasshopper Sparrows are in steep decline, having lost 78% of their population since monitoring began in 1966. In Minnesota alone, they’ve lost 97% of their population and their decline is second only to Western Meadowlarks. Their occurrence is now rare in the north and northeastern parts of the state.      ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      An appropriately named bird, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is considered a long-distance migrant if it's found in the upper reaches of the United States and southern Ontario. However, this bird can also reside year-round along the southern border of the U.S. I wasn’t expecting to find this bird in good numbers at Whitewater State Park in Minnesota, but after familiarizing myself with its song, I heard it on several occasions during my long weekend trip to the Driftless Area.       This particular breeding male (females and nonbreeding gnatcatchers don’t have black eyebrows) was busy feeding and singing, and interacting with other birds. I didn’t see a female around, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one nearby. It’s not often that I revisit a trail on a birding trip, but because the Meadow Trail was teeming with a lot of birds, I returned the following day. In this same area, I was also captivated by a pair of Eastern Phoe...

34th Annual International Miniature Show July 1 - August 1, 2026 Parklane Gallery 130 Park Lane Kirkland, WA 98033 425-827-1462.  Showing two American Robins.

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches This is my oil painting of a Tennessee Warbler. I was inspired to paint this particular bird because of the high number of these birds I heard, but didn’t see, this spring during my birding adventures. But on May 23 of this year, I finally got good photos of them on a cold and windy day near Slag Point in Morgan Park (Duluth), and they weren’t singing. Many species of warblers were flying from the brush onto the shore of Spirit Lake in search of food. Below is my photo of a female Tennessee Warbler about to eat some sort of green larvae. I hope you are enjoying your summer, and don't forget to seek out an art show or two. Stay wild, my friends. Female Tennessee Warbler with larvae, Spirit Lake, Duluth, May 23, 2026. Photo ©Becca Mulenburg Copyright notification: The internet is a scary place. I have seen my artwork on unauthorized websites. This is called stealing, also known as copyright infringement. The only authorized websites allowed to di...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Here is my oil painting of a female Common Merganser. I observed it swimming and diving along with a White-winged Scoter and Common Goldeneye in Agate Bay, Two Harbors, on March 29th and 30th of this year.       The three birds seemed to be getting along famously and hung out by the ice shelf that occupied the waters near the Edna G, an old tugboat.  Common Merganser and White-winged Scoter, Agate Bay, MN, March 29, 2026.      Edward Howe Forbush wrote about the Common Merganser (formerly called Merganser) in the 1936 edition of Birds of America. His comment, seemingly geared toward waterfowl hunters in particular, is the following: “Its flesh as ordinarily cooked is so rank and strong that its flavor is not much superior to that of an old kerosene lamp-wick but some of the hardy gunners of the Atlantic coast know how to prepare it for the table in a way to make it quite palatable.”    ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches     This is my most recent oil painting. It is a Spotted Sandpiper.  One of the greatest mysteries of the world is why the Spotted Sandpiper bobs its tail so much. No one knows, not even the smartest ornithologists on the planet. But if you see a bird bobbing its tail over and over while strutting along just about any body of water, it’s most likely a Spotted Sandpiper.      These birds have some additional interesting characteristics in that they don’t follow the general rules of thumb compared to most birds. The male incubates and takes care of the chicks while the female defends her territory which usually consists of up to three different males and their nests. She's got a lot of eggs to lay!     Spotted Sandpipers have a wide distribution, they can be found throughout the United States and well into Canada during the breeding season. They’re migrating now from Central and South America. So if you’re out and about, ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      This is my oil painting of a female Common Goldeneye, a diving duck.      An interesting fact about this bird is that it sometimes lays its eggs in other goldeneyes' nests. In other words, this duck exhibits conspecific (same species) brood parasitism, an alternate form of breeding.      Just how these birds pick which nests to parasitize has been studied, and it turns out these birds care more about the characteristics of the nests than who they belong to – just as long as they are another Common Goldeneye's.      Successful nests that are used year after year are recognized by female goldeneyes and given priority in June and early July, after the broods have left for the season. The following year, the earlier these nests can be parasitized, the higher the probability of chick survival rates.      Stay wild, my friends. References Paasivaara, A., Rutila, J., Poysa, H., & ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Here I have painted a Ring-necked Duck in a less complex style than usual. The hard edge of the water meets a tan-colored background void of complicated brush strokes and detail. The bird is simplified, yet the attentiveness given to this painting was no less measured.       When I paint birds, I like to learn about them, too. On January 15, 2021, I photographed this handsome fellow in the icy waters of Agate Bay in Two Harbors, MN. Besides the overall coloring indicating it was a male, the tan and gray feathers on the side of its belly designated it as nonbreeding. At the time, I didn’t know that. My intuition told me that no birds breed in Minnesota during the wintertime, so its breeding capability, or lack thereof, never crossed my mind; but isn’t it great when a bird’s feathers have something to say besides determining its sex? I think so.       Diving for food in frigid Lake Superior, this duck ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Once in fear of going extinct due to their rate of decline in the 20th century, Buffleheads have weathered threats to their survival. Recent data from Ducks Unlimited’s website shows almost a quarter of a million Buffleheads were killed each hunting season from 2019-2022, with Michigan, Wisconsin and California possessing the highest harvest rates. Currently, they are a species of low concern per the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.       Sometimes called Butterballs due to packing on so much weight, these ducks have the distinction of being North America’s smallest diving duck. During breeding, which occurs mainly in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska, females nest in tree cavities excavated by Northern Flickers or Pileated Woodpeckers. Since tree cavities are in high demand – around 85 species of North American birds are known to use tree cavities as nesting sites – it’s a good thing that Buffleheads accept human-mad...

24 x 24 inches - Oil on Belgian Linen      Broken records, trusses, and trees.       The winter of 2022/23 was a tough year. Snowfall amounts were extraordinary and broke records with 104.1 inches in one season. Our garage’s trusses broke, too, and the rooftop caved in under the weight of the snow. Young jack pines, ones that we’d planted seven years prior, bent and broke, and it was the first time I’d ever seen upright tree cages that looked perfectly normal at eye level squashed at the bottom, resulting in tangled messes of heavy wire compressed like accordions. Heavy snow will have its way.  Jack pine damage from snow weight. Photo taken May 10, 2023 at my home in Duluth, MN.      Spring joyously arrived and brought my first sightings of snowshoe hares to my yard. They’re one of those animals I thought I’d never see. Why haven’t I seen them before? I was lucky enough not to assume they’d stick around (they didn’t), so I got phot...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      A spring visit to Banning State Park in Minnesota finally allowed for some good photos of a Northern Waterthrush. I've seen this bird before, but never while it was actively seeking a mate. This handsome male sang frequently from tall pines, which was how I found it, and the Merlin App identified it as a Northern Waterthrush, not a Louisiana Waterthrush. They can be difficult to tell apart on looks alone. It was very active, flying to and fro over the Kettle River along the Quarry Loop Trail where large flat rocks hang over the river – great spots to sit and enjoy all that nature has to offer. During fall migration, Northern Waterthrushes have come through my neck of the woods in mid-August and seem rather friendly, ready to pose for my camera, if only for a short while. Of course, it helps if I’m lucky enough to be outside when they come through. My photo of a Northern Waterthrush at Banning State Park, MN on May 10, 2025. My photo of a N...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      This is a painting of a female, or immature male, Bay-breasted Warbler that came through my neck of the woods on August 13, 2025. It was hunting for insects fairly low in the branches of a spruce tree, about 15 feet up. It spent time in an adjacent cedar tree, too. These birds really like to eat spruce budworms, an insect that morphs into a small moth at maturity. Budworms can cause significant damage to balsam fir, white spruce, larch and hemlock forests. In turn, Bay-breasted Warbler populations can increase when there are severe budworm outbreaks.       Bay-breasted Warblers aren’t birds that I see often, and I’ve gotten lucky spotting them during fall migration, specifically around the second week of August at my home in Duluth, MN. They are a long-distance migrant that travels through the Caribbean to the northwestern reaches of South America in the fall. This year’s spring migration yielded my first-ever sighting ...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches The paragraph below is from “The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America” by Matt Kracht, a book that pokes fun at birds, often with edgy, disparaging and colorful language that is meant to be humorous.  Scarlet Teenager  Common Name: Scarlet Tanager  What is it with these tanagers? The males are possibly the most unnecessarily red birds in any eastern forest. They stay high in the forest canopy all summer long (doing god knows what) and then in the fall they just take off for South America. But not before inexplicably changing from red feathers to yellow-green feathers (which, by the way, makes them look just like the yellow-green females). I don’t know what they’re up to, but I don’t like it and somebody ought to do something about it.  -Matt Kracht My photo taken May 17, 2025, Moose Lake, MN. Note the yellow-green patch still on this bird's belly, remnants of its winter plumage. ©Becca Mulenburg Stay wild, my friends! Reference Kra...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      This spring, while watering newly planted trees, I heard the song of a Swamp Sparrow singing from a marshy area on my property, an area that is host to a few vernal ponds, too. Because that spot is wet, especially in the spring, it draws more bugs to my liking. Therefore, I don’t visit it very often, but it sure was nice hearing this guy singing his heart out while I lugged over 100 pounds of water in the wheelbarrow, day after day, to about a dozen saplings.       This bird has two characteristics that I find interesting. First, male Swamp Sparrows exhibit seasonal plumage dimorphism, which means their appearance changes during the mating season. Males will display bright rusty feathers on top of their heads to attract a mate and/or show dominance. Conversely, outside of the breeding months, their head feathers change to a dull brown. Instinctively, I can think of two other birds with seasonal plumage dimorphism: the A...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Who doesn’t love hummingbirds? After spending a fair amount of time figuring out my next painting, I took a break and started photographing hummingbirds a few weeks ago. And then I went through some old photographs of mine and chose to paint this one. This Ruby-throated Hummingbird is sitting on a Diabolo Ninebark branch, one of my favorite shrubs.       Male hummingbirds have begun their migration, I haven’t seen one in a while. The females and their offspring remain, but their days are numbered. Soon, they will be gone, too, on their way to Central America and the southern tip of Florida.       I am primarily a non-fiction reader, and the best book I’ve ever read about birds – in this case hummingbirds –  is Fastest Things on Wings by Terry Masear. When those northerly winds start to chill your bones and the snow keeps you inside, I highly recommend snuggling up with this book. You won’t be d...

Oil on Panel - 16 x 12 inches      House Wrens are now referred to as Northern House Wrens after last year's split by the American Ornithological Society. As an owner of several reference books on birds, it’s amazing how quickly out-of-date they've become. With changes made every year, whether by splitting species, lumping them together, or changing their names, it can be hard to keep up.       Northern House Wrens can find all sorts of interesting places to nest. On my property, I have two bird houses specifically for them, but in some years, they’ve also nested in a cable sleeve above our ditch – a black nylon-like material that covers hardware on a wire.  Northern House Wren with a fecal sac exiting a utility wire sleeve above the ditch at my home. Photo 8/9/2020.   Each fall, my husband empties our wren birdhouses, but according to a study by Charles F. Thompson and Andrew J. Neill from the Department of Biological Sciences at Illinois St...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      I subscribe to a small number of birding magazines and keep a record of articles about bird species. The most recent one in my collection about this bird, the Blackpoll Warbler, is from Living Bird’s 2024 winter issue. In one single night, 954 birds died after flying into the McCormick Place building in Chicago during a massive migration event on the night of October 4, 2023. Blackpolls were among the dead.       Fall migration is now in full swing, and it is dangerous, no doubt. Blackpoll Warblers carry the distinction of traveling further than any other warbler during migration – a whopping 1,800 miles from the Atlantic Coast to Columbia’s northern coast. And when they get to South America, they are greeted with the rainy season and large numbers of caterpillars to feast upon.       Sadly, these birds are in steep decline, losing approximately 71-90% of their population in the last 50-60 years. I...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      A female Scarlet Tanager visited my yard this past May and provided an opportunity for some great photos which were used as reference for this painting. Usually, I spot them during the fall migration.       One of the biggest characteristics of this bird is that it looks nothing like its bright, red, male counterpart. This trait is known as sexual dichromatism. It’s obvious the naming of this bird was born from observing the males versus females.       Scarlet Tanagers are known to exhibit active anting behavior whereby they'll pick up ants with their beaks and rub them on their feathers. It’s believed that formic acid contained in specific ant species helps deter ectoparasites such as bird lice. Two ants, Lasius (Acanthomyops) claviger and Lasius (Chthonolasius) umbratus, have been observed in use by Scarlet Tanagers. With over 12,000 species of ants in the world, one might surmise there are more sp...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Of all the birds in the world, the Western Meadowlark might rank near the top to qualify for a new name, for it is not a lark. It’s a member of the Icterinae subfamily, i.e. blackbirds.       This well-known grassland bird is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, North Dakota and Nebraska. In Minnesota, good opportunities to see this bird can be found in the tallgrass prairie biome in the western and southwestern parts of the state. Of all the biomes in Minnesota (tallgrass prairie, tallgrass aspen parkland, hardwood forests and pine forests), the prairie is my favorite.       Each year, I make a point to visit the prairie, usually somewhere I’ve never been before. This year’s visit included Buffalo River State Park (25 mi east of Fargo) and surrounding areas.      With less than 1% of Minnesota’s native prairie still in existence, prospects for the Western Me...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      Hooded Mergansers are infrequent visitors, but I have seen males, females and juveniles on our pond over the years. This female was spotted on June 3rd, a date that coincides with the time of year that crabapple trees drop their pink petals. I watched this lone duck dive for food, preen, swim and sleep for a short while.       These cavity nesters are known to be rather secretive, so even if I went searching for its nest, perhaps in an old Pileated Woodpecker hole – to which we have a few, especially in aged/dead birch trees – Mergansers aren’t known to reveal themselves very easily.       I’ve been busy painting and finished a couple of larger works which are currently drying. Miniatures have been completed for the annual MPSGS International Miniature Show coming up in November. These and more are waiting in the wings for future postings.       Spring came and went rather quickly...