The Early Bird Gets the Lifer

Our annual trip to western Michigan

Nearly every fall, my husband and I vacation in western Michigan. We love that part of the state: thick woods, winding rivers, and miles of great walking trails. And we never leave home without our binoculars.

Our home base is always South Haven Beach Homes, a collection of beautiful vacation homes owned by a group of family and friends. They’re also longtime clients of mine (I design their branding and website), and staying in their homes is one of the best perks of my job.

This year the weather was particularly beautiful. We were out every single day, exploring new areas and revisiting old favorites, and the fall colors were just about to peak. It’s a corner of the world that has drawn artists for a long time. The Oxbow School of Art has been welcoming painters to the dunes and marshes of Saugatuck since 1910, and I can see why.

Early birds (and one night owl)

I’m a birder and an early riser. My husband is a night owl who loves the outdoors, and his interest in birding has been growing since we got him a nice pair of binoculars last year.

We’d only ever visited our favorite spot, a little-used boat launch on the Kalamazoo River, in the afternoon. This year, my lovely husband agreed to get up before sunrise and make the 40-minute drive with me. The place was alive with hundreds of birds, more than we’d ever seen there. The only time we’ve seen anything like it was last year’s sandhill crane migration, with hundreds of cranes bugling boisterously over our heads.

Well – this year, that morning, I clocked a bird I’ve never seen before: a rusty blackbird. In birding circles, that’s called a “lifer”. My husband saw it too (although he may not have been as fully awake as I was!) Named for the rusty edges on their fall feathers, what stood out most for me was the white eyes. At first I thought it could be a grackle, which also has white eyes. But – it wasn’t. What a thrill! Rusty blackbirds have had one of the steepest population declines of any North American songbird, so seeing one felt like a real gift.

Woodpeckers everywhere

Everywhere we walked, I couldn’t help but notice woodpeckers, all sorts of them. Western Michigan is home to several species, from the tiny downy woodpecker to the crow-sized pileated, with its flaming red crest and loud, jungle-like call.

A few things I love about them:

• Drumming is a language. That rapid rat-a-tat isn’t always about finding food. Woodpeckers drum to claim territory and attract mates, and they pick the most resonant surfaces they can find.
• They come with built-in protection. A woodpecker’s tongue wraps around the back of its skull, part of the anatomy that helps cushion all that hammering.
• You can read their work. Pileated woodpeckers leave big, rectangular holes in trees, so you often know one has been around before you ever see it.

From binoculars to sketchbook

Birds are one of my favorite subjects to draw, so when Spoonflower announced its Cozy Cabincore design challenge, the woodpeckers felt like a natural match. The brief asked for designs that feel warm and restorative, inspired by woodland escapes, and that’s exactly how that morning in Michigan felt.

The result is Early Birds, a name that also nods to that sunrise morning at the boat launch. Pileated, red-headed, red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpeckers perch among ivory birches and blazing autumn leaves.

I started with a graphic gray, ivory and red palette, but it felt a little cool for a cozy cabin. So I warmed it up with an early-morning sunrise glow behind the trees and layered rust and orange foliage in front. As always, I drew the birds with smooth lines first and added the wood grain and speckled texture afterward.