#Feathers

[mcromwell]

"Nihilist Heron" 12"x16" acrylic, conté crayon, wax pastel on reclaimed support

Herons have captured my attention lately. I love their feathers and shapes.

[shrubsparrow]

I made an art/anatomy tutorial about birds! I hope people will find it helpful!

[talos-stims]

photographybyhenrik on ig | source

[saint-nevermore]

who's a pretty bird

[illustratus]

[mydearbasil]

they can be your angle or your devil ...!

[kedreeva]

Today in measuring your peahen, Bug is casually 2 foot, 3 inches tall (she can stretch a little taller when she REALLY wants a treat). This is just tall enough to see over a tray table and pull things off of nightstands and end cabinets.

Bug is also a little over 3 feet long from tail tip to beak tip. Most of Bug is made up of tail and neck. There is a 6lb dead weight in the middle somewhere that she knows how to directly place onto the ball of one foot while standing on you.

Bug's wingspan is around 3.5 feet, thought I didn't get a measurement. It will be over 4 feet as an adult.

Bug is growing in her spurs. As a Spalding (hybrid) hen, Bug will likely have one inch bone knives conveniently attached to her tarsometatarsus. This is technically fused foot bones, not a leg bone. Curiously, pure Pavo cristatus hens have spurs, and pure Pavo muticus hens have spurs, but many domestic Pavo cristatus and low-percent Spalding hens lack them. This is one of the indications of domestication in the cristatus species. As I prefer the wild type, I prefer my hens spurred, so this is a good sign!

Bug's toes measure a smidge over 5 inches from the tip of her rear-facing to to the tip of her longest front facing toe. Try measuring that on your hand.

Bug's nails measure 1/2-3/4 an inch long, depending on the toe. That's almost as long as one finger section for most people.

When I had snakes, I got asked all the time if I was afraid of them biting me. The answer is no. I have been bitten by a 6 foot long, 20lb boa constrictor, and have no scars to prove it. Meanwhile I have so many scars from peafowl sitting on me, particularly on my forearms, that I have had to reassure people I am not a danger to myself.

I post these photos as a reference, but also as a precaution. This is a BABY peafowl, and a female at that. She is only 6 months old and weighs a little over 6lbs, which means she's about 2/3 of the way grown, and adult hens are typically 3/4 the size of an adult male. These are BIG birds that can do a LOT of damage, even accidentally. When they become aggressive, as in the case of hand-raised males or poorly bred birds, they become a potentially fatal threat to any other fowl you have. Unlike chickens, they are more than capable of (and prone to!) jumping to human face level before they flog (kick with their feet in a way that allows their spurs to hit home), which means they could easily take out an eye or cause other serious facial injury if they get a lucky strike. I have seen more than a few people end up with stitches, and more than a few birds end up euthanized because people think they are gonna be cute cuddly friends.

I know that Bug is a cute bird, but I also want to stress that a) she has an outstanding personality as a result of breeding choices and socialization b) she hasn't hit maturity, and won't do so for another 2+ years, so her personality could change considerably still and c) I have been raising peafowl one way or another for my entire adult life, which has been structured around keeping them. I love my birds, and I would love for more people to keep peafowl as they are great animals, but they are not casual animals. They are large and potentially dangerous farm fowl that take a lot of space, care, and knowledge to keep.

[chasingrainbowsforever]

~ Featuring Yellows ~

[celineszoges]

BLUE JAYS

[mcromwell]

"Cynic Heron" 12"x16" acrylic, conté crayon, and wax pastels on reclaimed support

Can you guess the next in the heron series?

[brushfeather]

Heart feather flags for days to round out pride month! 19 different styles.

This was WAY more of an undertaking than expected. Had to stop at 19 or I was going to go rainbow-ravin mad!

Edit: Oh heck, thanks so much for the feature! Appreciate all the new faces here! 💖

[shirecorn]

Caller of the Flock

Redbubble || Etsy || Patreon || Ko-fi

Weeks of painting feathers and swirls of the mane to bring life and color into the tiniest folds.

[astrakamii]

open-eyed, burn the page, my little dark age

[rustandsky]

First Funeral.

[zegalba]

Rebecca Horn: The Feathered Prison Fan (1978)

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Have you Appreciated Zhenyuanlong Today?

Now you have!

Look at those feather impressions!

Raptors (Dromaeosaurs) had huge wings!