Please start this bird anatomy series with post #403, March 10. Most birds are designed for flight and flying demands a rigid airframe. The bird's rib cage and backbone are fused together . . . only the neck, tail, and wings are flexible. The spine of mammals - human and quadruped - is supple. A bird's spine is rigid . . . if it were supple, the bird would lose control and could not fly. The bird's bones are hollow, light, and remarkably strong. For instance, a pelican weighs twenty pounds and the skeleton weighs only twenty-three ounces. Nature has sluffed off weight to enable flight. The skeleton of a bird can be summarized as follows: 1 - the skull, made up of fused bones 2 - the vertebral column; includes 13-25 neck vertebra, fused backbone vertebra, flexible tail vertebra 3 - the hip girdle which provides support for the legs and where the leg muscles attach 4 - the pygostyle, where the tail feathers attach 5 - the sternum or keel, which anchors the wing pectoral muscles of flying birds 6 - the wing, includes the humerus, radius/ulna, and hand which anchors the primary flight feathers 7 - the leg - includes the femur, tibia, tarsus, and toes 8 - the clavicle or wishbone, which keeps the wing joint and coracoid in position as the wing muscles pull downward. A bird's entire body, except is bill and feet, is usually covered with feathers. Why is the skeleton important to the bird sculptor? The bird sculptor must know how the bones are arranged, how they articulate, and the limitations of skeletal movement before attempting to define muscles and feather groups. Copyright - Sandy Scott Below is an etching entitled Dominick - copyright Sandy Scott The underlying skeleton can be seen above and is also illustrated in post #410
Quick Guide to Bird Identification Bird identification can sometimes be tricky for experienced birdwatchers, and even more so for the untrained eye. This website attempts to make this task as stra…
Birds are a very complex topic for an artist. They have wings (a real nightmare for beginners), all these feathers and they differ a lot among various species. In this tutorial my goal is to...
The Etherington Brothers(@EtheringtonBros) take a closer look at how to draw a bird's wing! Learn wing anatomy, how to simplify it, & tips on achieving natural flapping wings. https://t.co/pKrkwb3Emf
Other articles where Cathartidae is discussed: vulture: New World vultures: The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is the most widespread New World vulture, breeding from Canada southward to the southern tip of South America. Northern populations are migratory. They are small brownish black vultures with red heads as adults (dark gray as juveniles)…
Still Pencil Drawing Tutorials
Download Image of Bird Legs 2 - A bunch of drawings of different types of birds. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. Legs of birds (labels moved) Public domain scan of print / book page depicting birds, ornithology, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description. Dated: 1913. Topics: comparisons of bird feet, illustrations of bird feet
