Art: Watercolour

Watercolour Workshops

The Storm

Recently I have had the good fortune to attend two watercolour workshops.  The most recent was presented by Peggy Holt of Fredericton.  Peggy put on a day filled with excellent instruction and demonstrations showing her work and skill.  She motivated us with her excellent teaching skills.  The session was complete with coverage of nearly every possible aspect of watercolour painting.  She even introduced some cutting edge ideas!  

The painting above was done from a photo which she used to have us paint a landscape.  I was intrigued by the severity of the storm and what it was doing to the landscape.  I enjoyed putting that on paper.

At the end of September I attended a 5-day watercolour workshop put on by the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour in Cornwallis, NS (see previous post).  This was a fantastic experience.  There were 8 teachers covering all aspects of watercolour painting.  Each was a master of her/his area.  We could choose to spend a day or more with our choice of 5 of them.  Some selected more than one day with some but I chose a day with 5 individuals.

Calgary Cityscape

One instructor was Rex Beanland from Calgary who specializes in cityscapes.  We had a fun day learning his techniques.  The painting above is what I was able to execute.  Getting the perspective right was the challenge.  

The symposium was also filled with extras.  We had a lobster banquet one evening.  On another we had a 2-hour presentation on Golden products.  We were shown dozens of their products with concrete examples of what they can do.  We finished the evening with lots of take-home samples.  Other extras included a life drawing session, night painting demonstration, and a welcoming reception.

I am not sure I am a watercolorist but I certainly enjoyed being shown what they can do.  Most of them are transparent and I love the luminosity they show.  It is also interesting to see what they can do by themselves as they move around on the paper.  They are a challenge to use but a rewarding challenge!

Thanksgiving Day Treats for your Dog

We’re always on the lookout for fun activities to share with you and we found a great one from our friends at the Outer Banks SPCA, located in North Carolina.(https://www.facebook.com/obxspca)

Last Thanksgiving, their shelter dogs celebrated by digging into these festive food bowls! Volunteers and kids had so much fun putting them together that the North Carolina agency has been serving up this Thanksgiving Day feast for two years and counting. Freezing the bowls allows advance preparation—and as a bonus, makes mealtime last longer for the animals.

 Share photos if you do this for your dogs on Thanksgiving!  We'd love to see!

Special thanks to ASPCA and the Outer Banks SPCA for this recipe.

Killer Whales, SeaWorld and Media Credibility

As always the satirical web site The Onion gets it right.  Unfortunately, this could be reported as a fact by the mainstream press and science magazines.

Very little objective analysis by these news outlets as to the accuracy of the information presented within this documentary. Moreover, it is simply not the case that there is no alternative information available as this can easily be found on SeaWorld's supporting web sites and other legitimate sources. These go into a great deal of detail as to why Blackfish should not be viewed as a valid and objective documentary.

With yet another twist and turn in the saga of SeaWorld and its killer whales, it was erroneously announced by both popular and the scientific press that the San Diego Park would be phasing out its killer whale shows in 2016. 

  In point of fact, this is not exactly what was said at the SeaWorld press conference. The fact that both the mainstream (and even the scientific press) seem completely incapable of reporting anything to do with the whole issue of SeaWorld and its killer whales objectively should be a cause of serious alarm.  What SeaWorld has actually decided to do is to change the format of its killer whale show at San Diego to incorporate a more educational remit rather than the current more theatrical presentations that can be seen at the other two American parks. 

One of the worst offenders in the reporting of the issues regarding SeaWorld and its animal care is the U.K.'s The Guardian and The Independent newspapers. Within the last year alone The Guardian has produced over a dozen articles on SeaWorld - all with a negative spin on the issue of SeaWorld and its animal care. The Guardian even invited the producer of the film Blackfish Gabriela Cowperthwaite to write an article about this subject. As far as a review of the contents of the Guardian reveals not once has the newspaper invited anyone from SeaWorld to undertake a similar exercise or to directly comment on their articles – aside from comments lifted from other news agencies and press releases.  

Within the last year alone The Guardian alone has produced over a dozen articles on SeaWorld - all with a negative spin on the issue of SeaWorld and its animal care.

To compound these problems the majority of this copy is produced by the Guardian's regional reporters or syndicated from releases by Associated Press. This is disappointing because the Guardian has an excellent science reporting team who would inevitably have taken a more considered and scientific approach to the animal welfare issues which is at the heart of this debate.

Moreover, it is continually disturbing that the Guardian and other print and web-based news outlets somehow still seem to think that the film "Blackfish" should be taken on face value as being both accurate and factual. The actuality is there has been very little objective analysis by these news outlets as to the accuracy of the information presented within this documentary. Moreover, it is simply not the case that there is no alternative information available as this can easily be found on SeaWorld's supporting web sites and other legitimate sources. These go into a great deal of detail as to why Blackfish should not be viewed as a valid and objective documentary.

If reputable news and scientific-based magazine sites were reporting an issue such as the anti-vaccine movement there would be demanded a definitely more objective and rigorous examination of the facts. It is not without irony that the seminal work that was very much a trigger for the huge amounts of interest in SeaWorld and the care of its killer whales (and the production of the film "Blackfish") was written by investigative reporter David Kirby in his book Death at SeaWorld. If one looks at the body of Kirby's work prior to Death at SeaWorld he authored a book in 2006 entitled: Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. This book promoted the notion that the Mumps Measles and Rubella (MMR) vaccine was responsible for autism in children; a view that David Kirby still seems to support.

It was a UK general practitioner Dr Andrew Wakefield who produced the now discredited research on the MMR vaccine and autism.  As a result, he was removed from practising medicine in the United Kingdom.  However, David Kirby seems to have escaped a similar fate from his peers as regards his credibility as an investigative journalist. Why this red flag has been to all intents and purposes completely ignored when reporting issues regarding SeaWorld and the care of its killer whales remain extremely puzzling.

It seems that unfortunately when it comes to reporting issues regarding the compromising of animal welfare in situations such as zoos and aquariums and other animal keeping enterprises many journalists appear to lose all sense of objective analysis and reporting that they would not do for many other subjects - such as the controversy over vaccination as cited above. Why this is happening is something of a mystery but it does not bode well when journalist do not report issues regarding animal welfare evenhandedly and by doing this they do a disservice to their readers. 

Further Background

Blackfish and the Black Arts of Propaganda

 More Blackfish Backlash – Tilikum’s Trainer Dives In

Blackfish Exposed by Former SeaWorld Trainer

Blackfish and the Selective Skeptic

Killer whales, Politics and Animal-Rights.

Late Birds

Saying Goodbye to Our Summer Friends

Eastern Phoebe

One thing birders often do is keep track of the dates during which species of birds are actually here in New Brunswick.  This gives us early and late dates for each species and also information about what the species is doing, its arrival and departure, its geographical locations, its movements from place to place for food, nesting, etc.  

Two species I watch carefully are the Eastern Phoebe and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  They feed and nest around our place and are easy to monitor.  I consider them my friends and am always sorry when they leave.  I wish them well as they wing to warmer climes each fall.  

Eastern Phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe arrives earlier than many of our migrants.  That is because it is a bit hardier than some flycatchers, of which it is one.  Its main diet is insects which it catches by flying from a good vantage point like the one on the roof above.  It also eats berries and other fruit so it can survive a bit better in cold weather when insects are difficult to find.  The last phoebe we saw here in Fredericton this year was on October 11.  We saw one later than that, on October 18 on Covedell Road near Tabusintac.

It can be a problem for flycatchers if they return too early in the spring.  If the weather is unusually warm, sometimes they will appear early.  That is fine if some insects have hatched providing food.  If, however, the weather turns bad and there are no insects about, it can be difficult for our phoebes.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Female

Another species I watch carefully for early and late dates is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  They arrive almost every year on Mother's Day weekend.  Sometimes it is a day or two on either side, but I can usually depend on having visitors to our hummingbird feeders on Mother's Day weekend.  They usually leave around Labour Day weekend.  This year we saw our last hummingbird on September 23.  I still have my feeders out in case an unusual hummingbird shows up looking for food.  That is very unlikely but it has happened in NB before in late fall and in almost every case the hummingbird has been a rare species.  One time it was a Rufous Hummingbird and one time it was a Broad-billed Hummingbird.  You just never know what surprises our avian visitors have for us.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Male

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Male

Field Trip to Maquapit Lake

Bur Oaks and More

Bur Oak

On Friday past a friend and I went on a field trip to see a stand of Bur Oaks near Maquapit Lake.  Bur Oaks are not common in New Brunswick and to see a stand of them was an exciting prospect.  It was a sunny day about 10ºC.  Our fall colours are a bit past their peak but never-the-less are still beautiful.

The habitat was mainly lowland hardwood with a rich understory of ferns, blueberries, and other plants.  The overstory was dominated by water maples, red maples, balsam poplars and oaks.  The oaks were mainly bur oaks with very few red oaks.  We estimated there were at least 50 bur oaks, mostly mature trees.  We measured three of the largest and their diameters were 86, 78, and 66 cm.  Those were big oaks!  Pictured above is a view looking up into one of them.  They still had some of their foliage left although much had fallen off.

Bur Oaks

The Bur Oak's range extends from eastern Canada to the prairies and south through the mid-western states to Texas.  It is a hardy species being able to withstand fire and drought.  Note the thick bark shown below which protects it from fire. 

Bur Oak Bark

Bur Oak Leaf

The Bur Oak was an important source of food for aboriginal peoples.  The acorns are edible and today provide a food source for mammals and birds.  I have searched for bur oak acorns under nearly every tree I have found over the years and I always find a lot of acorn debris but rarely intact acorns.  They are all chewed open or show evidence of worm holes.  I suspect the animals are practically under the trees waiting for them to drop or the squirrels are in the canopy harvesting them before any other creature gets a chance.  It would be fun to harvest a few and boil them up to see what they taste like.  They have been found in archaeological digs going back 5,000 years showing they were an important source of food for our ancestors.  

Bur Oaks

Pictured below is the bark and leaves of the Red Oak.  Note the similarity the red oak bark shows with the Bur Oak.  The leaves are quite different.

Red Oak Bark

Red Oak Leaves

According to "Edible Wild Plants" by Lee Allen Peterson, the acorns of both the white and red oaks are edible although the red oaks are not as desirable as the white oaks.  The Bur Oak is a white oak and the acorns are apparently sweet.  The nuts (acorns) of white oaks can be used for flour, meal, or eaten as nuts or candy.  They are usually shelled and boiled to remove the tannins and then dried and roasted.  Dried nut meats can be dipped in maple sugar and eaten as candy or ground into a meal and used to make breads and muffins.  They are an excellent source of protein and fat.

The habitat we were in was on the shores of a marsh leading into Maquapit Lake.  The scenery there was beautiful as noted in the image below.  

Maquapit Lake Marsh

The waterfowl habitat in the marsh was excellent.  We found wild rice (Zizania) growing and other abundant food for waterfowl.  We happened upon a large flock of about 50 Wood Ducks and 20 Green-winged Teal.  See below.  We also found 5 Great Blue Herons.  

Ducks Feeding and Preening in the Marsh

Wood Ducks with Green-winged Teal in Background

Happy Tail: Havoc

In honor of Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month, we would like to share a wonderful success story of a shelter dogs who found his forever home!  Here is an awesome success story that demonstrates the love and compassion that shelter animals are capable of!

Havoc
Many of us can relate to having a house full of four-legged family members, just like Dawn and Mark Lubbart. They are avid Animal Friends supporters, having adopted from us multiple times. Thirteen years ago they adopted their first dog, Thor, who quickly became the love of their lives. 

Next they added Cyclops, a wonderful puppy who unfortunately developed seizures. Without missing a beat, Dawn and Mark worked with him and bonded closely with their poor baby boy. After many trials and errors, they figured it out and Cyclops has been seizure-free for quite some time!

In May of 2015, a month after having to send their beloved Thor over the Rainbow Bridge, this wonderful couple decided to adopt again. After spending over three hours with Eric, an Animal Friends' Adoption Counselor, Dawn and Mark fell in love with Havoc, then named Elliot, and decided to welcome him into their loving home. 

Havoc was extremely fearful at the shelter but has since made incredible improvements, with the help of this loving parents and furry sibling. We are so grateful for people like Dawn and Mark who give shelter animals the fighting chance they deserve. They have been rewarded with a lifetime of love and we look forward to helping them in the future should they decide to adopt again!

Animal Friends is Providing Treats, Not Tricks, for Residents

In light of the Halloween season, Animal Friends is again providing some not-so-spooky enrichment for its shelter residents based on this ghoulish holiday. Our eerily creative Animal Enrichment Specialist, Suzanne Denk, cooked up a “Halloween Enriched Environment Trail” for our shelter dogs this past weekend!

The first stop on the trail was a pool of leaves, with hidden tasty treats, requiring dogs to use their noses to find them. Another scent game included sealed boxes with holes to tempt canine noses. Fresh hay, herbs and apple cinnamon air fresheners were hidden inside the boxes.

Spooky hanging obstacles (pool noodles) were used as a confidence builder for our shyer shelter residents (you can also stick treats in the hollow end of the pool noodle to entice shy dogs to approach).

Many made a quick stop at the festive Jack-o-Lantern duck pond and then it was on to the final stop of the trail – The Magic Potion Cheese Tree. Treats were stuck to the tree with a bit of cheese for the dog to sniff out and find. 

The goal of enrichment is to provide a daily environment that is varied and stimulating and to allow the animals to engage in natural behaviors. Enrichment activities that engage all of the animals’ senses are beneficial to their physical and behavioral health. The activities provide opportunities to think and to explore space – therefore providing a sense of control to shelter animals. More importantly, stimulating their brains reduces stress and is fun!