Bird of Bones

Last term in the UW natural science illustration program we drew skulls, chicken and muskrat. It was a really fun and interesting set of exercises, and a lovely change of pace from the invertebrates (not that I have anything against invertebrates... except that they're small and hard to see).

Apparently we'll get to do more of that in the winter, and I'm looking forward to it.

We spent an afternoon at the National Museum of Natural History while we were in Washington. They have a hall of bones, and it is amazing. (Which is more fascinating, skeletons or dinosaurs? It's a toss-up.)

I, of course, was interested in the birds:


A Cassowary skeleton. The Cassowary is a large flightless bird with a horn on its head. Sy Montgomery's chapter about Cassowaries ("Birds are Dinosaurs") in her book, Birdology, is a revelation.


Grebes are water birds with lobed feet - excellent swimmers. Unlike the Cassowary, they can fly, but they don't walk very gracefully because of the way their legs are constructed. Most birds perch/sit and walk or hop on their toes; the grebes tend to rest much farther back on their ankle joint. You can kind of see how it would just be easier for them to be in the water.

Want to see some really long legs? Check out the legs of the Secretary Bird:


And finally, the raven, with all its bits labeled. See the keel (sternum/breast bone)? That shape is for large breast muscle attachments. All birds have breast bones, but not all birds have keels. Birds with keels have larger breast muscles that allow flight; birds without, don't.


I know I'm easily amused, but isn't this stuff cool?

Paul Manship

Perhaps best known for Rockefeller Center's "Prometheus," Paul Manship was a prolific 20th-Century American sculptor. These birds are a few of his works on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.







The Smithsonian's description of the Shoebill contains this statement: "By exaggerating certain features or expressions, Manship also lets a little bit of their personalities peek through. This is especially visible in his gilded works, where the gold patina highlights the contours of the animal's forms and their precise surface details. Many of Manship's animal sculptures were originally created as part of his design for the gates of New York's Bronx Zoo."

You'll have to forgive me for quibbling, but the Shoebill is distinctive enough not to need much exaggeration...



Photo from Wikipedia.

Huzzah!

Another bit from IBRRC, celebrating the rescue of another one of the beer-can collared bulls in the Bay Area.

Nice.

Tawny Frogmouth at the Adelaide Zoo

How cool is that?! Hand-reared Tawny Frogmouths at the Adelaide Zoo hatched a chick... a very cute chick.

In Progress

Mad dash to the finish line... Here's what's in the hopper right now!

Never done this before. Not bad for a first attempt:



I'm much better at carbon dust than I was 9 weeks ago...



Have to re-do this:

Drawing lots, just not lots of birds...

... I'm in the thick of the end of the term. Still working on a chicken skull, a muskrat skull, a squid (reanimated and in perspective!) and a frog-legged leaf beetle (very cool bug, by the way). There's lots in the world to draw, and it seems that right now none of it is birds... sigh.