Spy duck goose goose duck12/17/2022 ![]() ![]() Orange bills and S-shaped necks distinguish the invading mute swan from our native tundra swan.Ĭonstant honking signals the arrival of the familiar Canada goose with its black and white head, brown back and pale breast. The mute swan competes with other waterfowl for food and habitat. Tundra swans often flock together on shallow ponds.Īnother swan, the mute swan, is an invasive, nonnative bird from Europe. These large white birds are easily recognized by their black bills and straight necks. Swans are the largest of waterfowl and the tundra swan travels the farthest - more than 4,000 miles - to winter primarily on the Eastern Shore. Swans, geese and ducks seek out the rivers, creeks and wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay for food critical to their survival. It is easy to forget that the Chesapeake Bay watershed lures a great variety of birds from Alaska, Canada, the north central United States and New England. Sure, I pass fields filled with Canada geese and see mallards near the developed shorelines, but that’s about all. About one-third of all waterfowl that winter on the Atlantic Coast do it right here.īut the suburban landscape where I live and work provides a limited view of wintering waterfowl. “It’s hard to get yourself to a point where ideas are out there and you can grab them.The Chesapeake is known for its importance to waterfowl. “Most of my ideas come to me when I’m not looking,” he says. Some days he doesn’t write at all, but tries to stay receptive to what he’s experiencing. Hills writes from his home in Brooklyn, New York. ![]() Together Duck, Goose, and Thistle give Hills’ observations a voice and provide several conversation starters for parents and children. In Duck, Duck, Goose (Schwartz and Wade, 2007), Hills creates a friendship triangle by introducing a new duck named Thistle. ![]() “I didn’t tolerate meanness or injustice as a kid,” he says. “When I apply the eyebrow,” he says, “I can express what Duck is feeling.”Īs Hills’ two children grow, he finds himself drawn to how kids treat each other. “They looked like cigar-smoking tough guys.” Over a matter of months, Hills finally pared down Duck and Goose to their essential elements-circular heads, long rectangular legs, triangular feet, and door-shaped beaks. “The first ones were older looking,” he says. Although Hills’ Duck and Goose characters look simple enough, he drew hundreds of ducks and geese before finding a style with which he was comfortable. Hills paints with water-soluble oil paint on paper, using colored pencils for the last details. They were telling me what they wanted to say! That is the best feeling. I wrote one sentence.But when I’m in the zone, I literally hear the dialogue between. “When Lee comes home and asks me about my day, I say it was okay. ![]() I stare at a blank page for hours,” he says. “For me, the writing is really difficult. Hills took the hint and changed his egg to a ball, and changed the title. A dinosaur? An ostrich? Additionally, Hills floated the title by his son’s kindergarten class and was rewarded with blank stares. Hills also had to consider what would hatch out of such a large egg. As Hills developed the story, he realized his egg would have to be rather large to support Duck and Goose so they could hatch it. The idea for Duck and Goose started with only a title-The Silly Goose, the Odd Duck and the Good Egg. His break out book, Duck and Goose (Schwartz and Wade, 2006) was one of them. “I started with four stories,” says Hills. When Lee moved to Random House to start her own imprint with long-time friend and associate, Ann Schwartz, she encouraged Hills to write his own picture books. “Lee used to ask me to try illustrating some books she couldn’t find an illustrator for,” Hills says. But Hills’ break into children’s publishing coincided with his wife Lee’s new position as the art director for Simon and Schuster’s children’s book division. He’s done some acting, made jewelry, makes fake teeth for stage productions, dabbled in interior renovation, and illustrated book jackets for adult trade books. “I liked making things,” he says.Īs a graduate of Skidmore College in New York with a degree in art, Hills describes himself as the ultimate freelancer. I spent a lot of time on my own making things, drawing, and painting.” Hills was not consciously trying to become an artist, rather his motives were innocent and pure. “Whenever I picture myself ,” says Tad Hills, “I am doing art. ![]()
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