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...

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.”    ...

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 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      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      This is an oil painting of a Veery as seen at my home on May 26, 2020. It's a bird that I commonly hear in my neck of the woods in the spring and summer. They are generally known to be secretive birds because they inhabit dense woodlands associated with wet areas such as streams, rivers or swamps. I have seen and heard them singing from tree branches and hopping along the ground both at my home and during visits to Lake Maria and Carlos State Parks in Minnesota. Perhaps I’ve gotten lucky obtaining good photos of these birds, but I often find that just spending time outdoors, especially during spring migration, really pays off.       Thanks to a fascinating 19-year study of Veeries’ nesting behaviors by Dr. Christopher Heckscher of Delaware State University, it's been determined that these birds can predict the severity of Atlantic hurricane seasons. In the years when Veeries called off nesting prior to May 23rd, there w...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches            Last year, Red Crossbills visited my feeders containing black oil sunflower seeds between May 15 and May 28th. Those sightings remain the only time I've seen these perfectly-named birds.       Compared to most birds, there’s a lot more to learn about Red Crossbills. The following paragraph taken from allaboutbirds.org [accessed Feb. 10, 2025] summarizes this bird well.       "Traditionally considered a single species of multiple races, Loxia curvirostra may actually comprise more than half a dozen separate species—each of them showing a mix of traits so close to the others that they are inseparable in the field. Even taxonomists with specimens in the hand are often uncertain of what they have. Birds of different bill sizes and shapes apparently prefer different conifer species (the smallest types feeding on hemlocks, the largest on white pines), but the differences must be measur...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches      This is a black and white (sort of) oil painting of an Eastern Phoebe. A trip to William O’Brien State Park last September brought windy and hot conditions for a six-mile birding walk. I spotted this bird along the Wedge Hill Savanna Trail perched on a branch over water, sallying for bugs.       I remember that day well. It was too windy for decent birding, and the temperatures were between 76-80˚ F. For me, that’s hot; and without the wind, I wouldn’t have walked as far as I had. Oftentimes, when I see a bird by itself, especially during migration, I often wonder about its circumstances. Eastern Phoebes leave Minnesota for warmer climes in the fall. How far would this one travel? Why was it alone? Was it a male or female? Was it cursing the wind like I was? Perhaps bugs were easier to catch on windy days. Maybe they have less control in the wind, making them easier prey. Or maybe they’re harder to find, hunkered down o...

Oil on Panel - 4 x 4 inches 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 display my artwork are www.beccamulenburg.com, www.beccamulenburg.blogspot.com, and galleries currently showing my work. Any other website, posting, sales of my work, or the like, is illegitimate and operating under copyright infringement which is against the law. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. Please be aware. Copyrights do not transfer with the sale of any of my artworks.

Oil in Panel - 4 x 4 inches      It’s New Year’s Eve and some of you might be indulging in celebratory food for the occasion. So, it seems appropriate to bring up the variety of ways birds feed their young... or don't.       There are birds that feed their young for months, some only a matter of weeks, and then there are those that don’t feed their chicks at all. Bald eagles are examples of birds who feed their young for months before they fledge. On the opposite spectrum, brush turkeys don’t feed theirs at all. Their babies must fend for themselves upon hatching in order to survive. That’s right. No parental help whatsoever. Chicks, find your own food, we’re outta here, says mom and dad. Crazy, right?       When it comes to Eastern Towhees, they’ll feed their young for almost two weeks before fledging occurs. Nothing unusual about that. However, Eastern Towhees belong to a group of birds that will feed other bird species, too. The...

Oil in Panel - 16 x 20 inches.      This is my oil painting of female Bobolink. My photograph of her alongside Dart Road in Minnesota's Sax-Zim Bog in July of 2022 served as my reference.        Below is a poem about Bobolinks written by the distinguished poet William Cullen Bryant in March of 1855. It was published in Putnam's Magazine that same year. Punctuation, spelling and grammar were left unchanged. ROBERT OF LINCOLN. Merrily swinging on brier and weed,    Near to the nest of his little dame, Over the mountain-side or mead,    Robert of Lincoln is telling his name :       Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,       Spink, spank, spink ; Snug and safe is that nest of ours, Hidden among the summer flowers.                   Chee, chee, chee. Robert of Lincoln is gayly drest,    Wearing a bright black wedding-coat ; White are his shoulders and white hi...