"Northern Cardinals"/ Mating Season

The Cardinal's identification has its crest, big conical bill, and black face set the male apart from any other red bird.  The brown
female always has some patches of red and a very conspicuous red bill.  Young are like females but may be darker (little or no red) and
have a darker bill.

The habits of this bird is at home in any habitat that includes dense thickets and tangles near open areas--field edges, woodland
borders, stream banks, open swamps, parks, and residential districts.  It is a non-migratory, but individual birds wander extensively, and
in many sections it is gradullay local residents.

The voice of the Cardinal is a rich, powerful, and pleasantly musical.  The song which often starts softly is a repetition of short,
whistled phrases in which some notes are usually run together.  After a few phrases on one pitch the bird generally changes to another.
A common song is written wet-year, wet-year, weet-weet-weet-weet, another wburty, wburty, wburty, wburty.  Call note is a sharp
clink.

The Cardinal is West Virginia's state bird and I also read that during the courting season the male will feed the female during their
courtship. 

"Cone Flowers"


I was inspired to paint these flowers from viewing some at a neighbors house that had some growing. They are interesting
and grow tall.

Cone flowers are native to Eastern and Central North America.  This virtually foolproof perennial offers gardeners little besides
reliability until recently.  In the last few years, however, plant breeders have released the beauty hidden within these rugged
wildflowers, creating double-flowered coneflowers, fragrant coneflowers in an astounding palette of new and vivid colors.

You can also view my art at www.Ruth-Housley.artistwebsites.com.  This is originally at Fine Art America.

I did not have my third painting that I was working on finished so it will be in my next newsletter.
Hope you enjoy these paintings.