Gambel’s Quail and Western Screech-Owl
Starting Year 2 in my Perpetual Journal!
Hooray—I’m starting Year 2 in my Perpetual Journal, which means I’ll be adding new art & text to each Perpetual Journal page that already has art & text from a year ago.
I estimate that I’ll fill my Perpetual Journal after 3 years of art & text entries, so one of my challenges for Year 2 is making sure I leave enough room for my Year 3 art & text.
Here are the first 2 weeks of Year 2!
I get a kick out of seeing Ocotillo canes bend waaay over when a bird lands on them, and then spring back into position when the bird takes off!
Unlike Summer 2022, in Summer 2023 we saw no Cloudless Sulphur larvae or chrysalii, and very few butterflies of any species. We believe the dearth of butterflies in 2023 was due to our record heat and dry Summer this year. ☹️
Hubby & I have had an owl box for 8 years and we keep hoping that a couple of Western Screech-Owls will shack up in our owl box and produce a flock of little owlets…but so far, no luck on that front.
We’ve seen a few (not many) Caltrops flowers blooming this Summer and Fall, but some have also gotten eaten. We always celebrate the ones we see that last a full day!
After I painted the Gambel’s Quail above, I wished that I’d drawn it larger, so I could add more details showing the Quail’s beautiful feather patterns and coloration (the Quail I drew is less than 1.5” tall). However, I then had the following thought (which is rather profound, if I do say so myself):
“Your art doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to BE.”
- Paula Borchardt
This is such an interesting idea and builds a wonderful sense of the seasonality in your particular ecosystem.
Congratulations, Paula! on starting a new year of your wonderful journal. I’m looking forward to all the new entries ahead and having a second look at last year’s.