Sometimes things turn up and you don’t know where they came from. But this old fellow makes me cry.
Sometimes things turn up and you don’t know where they came from. But this old fellow makes me cry.
Every time I give myself a little assignment, I find myself launched on a voyage of discovery. This week’s focus on fancy crowns or head feathers has led me to the Secretary Bird, sometimes described as an eagle on stilts– found across sub-Saharan Africa, up to five feet tall (almost as big as an antelope) yet weighing under ten pounds. Their Latin name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means archer of serpents, and they stomp poisonous snakes to death with their terrifying feet (I feel another foot drawing coming on.) And their head feathers are pretty amazing, too!
Well over a year ago, I drew a bird very much like this Victoria Crowned Pigeon that I thought had come out of my imagination. As I learn more about birds, I realize that nothing I can invent surpasses what actually exists —though this beautiful creature is endangered in its native New Guinea.
Why stop with just a few flashy head feathers?
The largest eagle in the world, the Harpy is, admittedly, a little odd looking… but I love those wild gray feathers…
This week, I’m enjoying looking at spectacular head feathers …