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?
