Blackbird in the Bog
Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches. This is an oil painting of a female Brewer’s Blackbird, a species of bird quite unfamiliar to me. I am grateful for the research available, there’s always more to learn! Depending on what part of the country you live in, these birds can be common and perhaps a nuisance as they await alongside humans for the opening of big box stores. In Seattle, for instance, once the doors open at a mega-superstore, they fly in to seek shelter from the elements or to score crumbs off the floor from its indoor café. My experience with Brewer’s Blackbirds is very different. I’ve never seen them waiting for stores to open, let alone hanging out anywhere near them in my area. The invasive House Sparrow makes up for that. But on July 5th, I observed two female Brewer's Blackbirds tending to a nesting site in Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota, a location far from urbanization. The tw...