Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Cormorants Visit Santee Lakes and Hang Out! There is nothing like a weekend getaway to widen and relax one’s perspective.   We drove from Prescott AZ to Coronado Island CA and stayed at a friend’s lovely home.   The reason?   An early music concert by Concerto Koln http://www.concerto-koeln.de/home_welcome.php?lang=eng  at Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall in San Diego.   What an amazing evening.   The baroque music was exquisite and the hall, designed for the San Diego Symphony, was perfect for the instruments.   The evening’s highlight for me was   Vivaldi’s ‘Concerto for Recorder, Strings, and Continuo in C, RV 443’ with Cordula Breuer playing the Sopranino Recorder.   I had not seen or heard this instrument before.   Picture the recorder you played in grade school and make it 6” long.   It was amazing to watch and listen to an artist playing with her fingers literally flying.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recorder Another day we went birding at the Santee Lakes.   What a show

Marble Canyon On a recent visit to the Grand Canyon, we stopped to see how the California Condors were doing in Marble Canyon.     These birds can have a wing span of 9 ½ feet and weigh up to 26 pounds.   They are BIG and magnificent in flight.   I spotted two on a ledge and watched them take off down the canyon.   I t started to rain as I saw three fly under the bridge below me.   I hung (more than leaning!) over the sides to see if I could get a picture.   The birds hopped from strut to strut keeping dryer that me.   They mate for life, lays a single egg every other year, and can live 60 years.    A wildlife recovery program brought the California Condor back from the brink of extinction. The last time a wild California Condor was spotted in the wild in Arizona was 1925.   By 1982 the total in California and Arizona had dropped to 22 birds.   They were all captured and a captive breeding program was started.   You will notice the numbers on the

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know that I love to photograph birds!   When eight Tundra Swans decided to visit the Prescott Lakes, I was ready with my tripod and Nikon camera with the long lens (Tamron 200-500).   I had my binoculars, hiking shoes and Peter (my resident birder)!   Tundra Swans breed in the Arctic tundra and migrating south to warmer weather.   It is really unusual for them to be this far south. We went to Watson Lake and saw four of the swans near the far shore….too far for any picture.   Then we went to Willow Lake and saw none.   The next day we retraced our steps and found four at Watson Lake and four at Willow Lake.   The ones at Willow were near enough for photography.     I carefully walked toward the water close enough to ‘shoot’ but not to disturb them.    Took lots of pictures in different exposures and happily left.   When I got home and looked, I realized the feathers weren’t as defined as I wanted and were overexposed.  I needed to try again

It is getting cooler in Prescott and ducks are flying in from the Arctic area (too cold with no food there!)    So Peter and I went birding to see how many ducks and what kinds were arriving.   Today we saw Mallards, Shovelers, Canvasbacks, Ring - Necked Ducks, Lesser Scaups, American Wigeons, Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads and one Green - winged Teal.   Then I spotted the eye candy!   Three Wood Ducks swimming in a man-made waterfall area at the entrance to a housing development – a place one would not expect to find them since they like secluded areas like wooded swamps.   The one male and two females caused us to stop the car, get our binoculars and just stand there looking!   The colors on the females were blended so that the blues slid into the greens and browns and then the blue green on their heads caught the sunlight.   It was such a rich color that I just wanted to touch. There was a delicate white pattern around their eyes and an elegant shape to their heads. The male coloring is

Often when I sit at my workspace I look out the window and see several big black ravens (each about 24-25” long) swooping between the tall pine trees.   I feel like I’m in the middle of a sci-fi movie by Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock! Sometimes the Ravens huddle in trees or on the ground.   Other times they will be alone or with their mate.  Today there were 15 of them (an unkindness of Ravens) foraging at the corner where our street intersects another.     Evenings bring the ‘raven patrol’ where they fly and land in their favorite trees.   Quite a site!   Once in a while, one will come to the feeder and grab a peanut! They communicate with each other using an amazing variety of calls that range from a low gurgling croak to harsh grating sounds and shrill alarm calls that can be heard a mile away.  The Common Raven has a very thick bill, shaggy throat and a wedge-shaped tail.   This member of the crow family is incredibly aerobatic, tumbling and rolling, in mid air.   Many scienti

The weather is cooling off and the bird activity is heating up!   More birds are coming to the feeder and luckily we have black sunflower seeds ready!   I want to share today’s birds with you.   Two Mountain Chickadees came to visit today and since we have not seen them for quite a while, I was excited!    They have white eyebrows which differentiates them from other chickadees.   I love to look for those field marks and they are very handsome!   Remember, the details make the difference!   These birds are tiny and flit through the high branches of our pine trees looking for seeds from cones.   They often hang upside down to gather insects and seeds – very acrobatic!   This winter they may also eat suet and peanut butter so I’m getting ready.   It is very funny to watch them shell a sunflower seed.   They usually hold it between their feet and hammer it apart with their beak!   Not to be outdone, the White Breasted Nuthatch also visited.   Talk about handsome with the sun hitting his w

Walks in nature   Birds                  Flowers                                        Combination of Colors Feeling all kinds of textures Fabrics Art Music Farmer’s Markets   with all the sights, shapes, and noise Store Displays – Windows that draw me in Old Buildings with all their details Architecture – past and present History –connections and stories Historical Costumes – how they were made and why Books – all kinds, sizes, shapes, and content Watching and listening to the Ocean Light changing on the mountains Watching the sunrise and sunset Sounds of the night