Chapter 4: Feathers & Plumages

Fun, fun feathers! Still trying to catch up with my posts, but this chapter was one I could stay with for a long time. A while back, I read a book on bird coloration by National Geogrpahic and was fascinated with the study of color, light, and pigments in bird's feathers. I highly recommend the book which you can get here on Amazon:

National Geographic Bird Coloration
by Geoffrey E. Hill

Since I already had some background knowledge on coloration, this chapter was a lot easier to read and process. Sketching was also fun, as it went over types of feathers:

Feather Type Variations, 9x12 graphite on paper

As well as some of the basics of bird feather anatomy:

Remiges & Retrices, 9x12 graphite on paper

In the sketch above, feather tracts are divided by which bones they originate from. Remiges are flight feathers that form from the bone of the wing bone. Primary feathers are sub-grouped to the outer wing forming from the manus whereas secondaries form the inner wing from the ulna bone. by contrast, retrices are flight feathers that originate from the tail bone. All of these feathers help to form the airfoil design that allows birds to fly.

There is so much more to this chapter but I'm going to focus on taking tests and paintings for now. More posts to follow!

This project is made possible by support of the Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency.