Feather Study

As most of my readers should know, I am really into taking nature photos, particularly bird photos. To broaden my knowledge and to make birding easier, I recently read Sibley's Birding Basics (you can find it on Amazon. Here is my store link to it). This is not an identification book but rather a book on how to use clues to make identifications.

A couple of the chapters deal with knowing the various feather groups. Now it is one thing to look at an illustrated and labeled picture and another to recognize them on a living bird. Fortunately, I have a whole flock of chickens who were willing to donate their time to my education.

Below are a few head shots showing supercilium, orbital, auriculars, malar and several other feather groups.

Jasmine, Americaucana

Cadbury, Delaware

Mirage, Andalusian

Belle, Gold-laced Wyandotte

Here a few of the ladies donate photos of tail and wing feathers. You can clearly see the difference between the coverts, primaries and secondaries, even on white Cadbury.

Tail feathers of Cadbury, Delaware.

Wing feathers of Mirage, Andalusian.

Lastly, a full body photo of Majora. She decided at the last minute to be part of the photo session.

Majora, Americaucana

The feather study was fascinating and I think it will really help when faced with a bird I am not familiar with. A big thanks to all my wonderful models!

~Jessica~