#2962 "Great Crested Flycatcher Friend"

#2962 "Great Crested Flycatcher Friend" 
16 x 20 by 3/4 depth stretched canvas (inches)
Started 10:00 am Tuesday, July 15th, 2025

This is another image taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. John provides a tremendous source of inspiration that encourages me to paint within the Singleton Studio when conditions outside are not conducive to plein air. A Heat Advisory was in effect, and the smoke from the Boreal forest fires was arriving to make the air quality bad. The biting bugs were also hungry. Hmmm, it was a good time to be in the Studio. 

The beak and eye placement of Great Crested Flycatchers gives them a perpetually cheerful outlook on life. Maybe they are just naturally happy!  There are several pairs at Singleton, and I always smile to see them. One pair prefers a wood duck box overlooking Little Mud Lake for its summer home. 

Great Crested Flycatchers nest in cavities. They favour natural cavities in dead trees, but will use large, abandoned woodpecker holes, nesting boxes, hollow posts, and even buckets, pipes, cans, and boxes of appropriate size. Both sexes inspect potential nesting cavities anywhere from two to seventy feet from the ground. 

The female does most, if not all, of the nest-building, while the male keeps her company. If the cavity is much deeper than 12 inches, she first backfills it with debris before building her nest in the back of the remaining space. She uses a wide variety of materials, from grasses, leaves, twigs, and stems, to hair and fur, snail and seashells, feathers, bark, moss, cellophane, onion skin, paper, cloth, eggshells, and, quite commonly, shed snakeskin. The inner cup is usually 3 to 3.5 inches across and 1.5 to 2 inches deep. The female may continue to add fine materials, like feathers, to the nest during egg-laying, incubation, and brooding. 

The Great Crested Flycatchers are long-distance migrants. It is possible that individuals in southern Florida do not migrate. All breeding populations north of central Florida winter in the tropics. They typically leave their northern breeding grounds in September and begin to return to the southern United States in mid-March. They tend to migrate alone. 

This painting started with just blocking in the shapes. The all-important eye and beak waited until the second day of painting. Thankfully, it was a good day, and the oils flowed. 

It was a satisfying experience attempting to breathe life into the oil painting of something alive. The above chronicles just a few of the steps. The photographic inspiration from John Verburg is included in step 6. The finished portrait had to capture the happy nature and the smile on the beak of this beautiful bird. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick