All About Birds, Part 3
—Northern Cardinals, Lesser Goldfinches & Western Bluebirds
Today’s post continues my bird “mini-series” and features three species of birds along with plant and Q (Queen Butterfly) Continuum art!
First, here’s my Perpetual Journal page featuring a Northern Cardinal (2025 art), a Queen Butterfly caterpillar “J” (pre-pupation) + the chrysalis (pupa) it turned into (2024 art), and Brittlebush (a common shrub in our yard that’s native to the Southwest U.S. & Northern Mexico) (2023 art).
Watching caterpillars ✨ magically transform into chrysalises never gets old for Hubby & me, and we’ve had the privilege of seeing more of this magic this Spring (spoiler alert: I have lots more Q Continuum excitement to report and plan to do so in an upcoming post 😍)—stay tuned!
🧐 A Fun Fact about Northern Cardinals
The Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, & West Virginia—more states than any other bird.
You can learn more about Northern Cardinals at All About Birds.
I shot this image of our Northern Cardinal friend as it was flying away.
Here’s my Perpetual Journal page from a few weeks later, featuring a Lesser Goldfinch (2025 art), Fleabane in bloom (2024 art), and Western Bluebirds (2023 art).
🧐 A Fun Fact about Lesser Goldfinches
All About Birds describes Lesser Goldfinches as “jabbering clouds of yellow, green, and black” which in my experience is a perfect description! We regularly hear lots of Lesser Goldfinches simultaneously chattering in our yard!
You can learn more about Lesser Goldfinches at All About Birds.
🧐 A Fun Fact about Western Bluebirds
Western Bluebirds sometimes have other Western Bluebirds helping at the nest; most of these extra birds are helping birds presumed to be their parents.
One of my blog readers has reported seeing this behavior with Eastern Bluebirds in her backyard in Missouri, USA. Thank you for sharing that observation! 😃
I haven’t seen any Western Bluebirds in our yard since I painted them for my Perpetual Journal in 2023, and Hubby has only seen them in our yard twice since 2023—so I’m glad I recorded that beautiful sighting when it happened!
You can learn more about Western Bluebirds at All About Birds.
💭 Comics Corner
I have another bird-themed comic to share with you today!
And…Happy 91st Birthday to one of my heroes—Jane Goodall!!
“Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved.”
- Jane Goodall
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