A walk in the New Forest

We spent a few days in the New Forest in Hampshire on our return journey from Sweden.  We took a walk from Beaulieu to Bucklers Hard through the woods and fields and were blessed with a beautiful day.  I collected a few flowers along the way to draw later.

              My sister in law found this lovely feather which I drew later in coloured pencil.

The forest is a large area of open land where ponies and cattle roam and graze freely.  Great care is needed when driving around and every village has it's cattle grids to keep them from the houses!

Fascinating feathers

From left: Barn Owl, primary; Laughing Kookaburra, primary; Masked Lapwing, tail feather; Figbird, secondary, Laughing Kookaburra, tail feather; Bush-stone Curlew, primary.

Primary feathers: outer feathers of the wing, provide thrust and propel the bird upward and forward;

Secondary feathers: provide lift by creating the airfoil shape of the bird's wing;

Tail feathers: help the bird to brake and steer in flight.

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Budgerigars feathers

This painting is a rather old one, dated September 2007, long before I came to Australia, but I consider it kinda Australian as those feathers came from my budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) which are one of the most common pet birds and originally from Australia. In their native country, in the wild, they live a nomadic life following the rain and the abundance that comes with it.
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Meeting the Bush Stone-curlew

 

I saw three Stone Bush-curlews at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. They are related to waders but they are actually terrestrial and found on any habitat with ground litter, from rain forests to open woodland, their face expression are very interesting and ever changing. As many other Australian animals they were not scared by close observers, probably because they rely on their camouflage and stillness, I was surprised to read that they are nocturnal birds ( no wonder the big eyes) in fact they looked kinda sleepy. After a bit of research I found a few interesting aboriginal stories related to the Bush Stone-curlew, you can read more following this link: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/09/27/bird-of-the-week-the-bush-stone-curlew-as-a-harbinger-of-death-and-more/

-Names- 

English: Bush Stone-curlew

Latin: Burhinus grallarius

Italian: Occhione willaroo

Aboriginal: Willaroo

Until next time,       Matteo http://matteogrilli.blogspot.com

Nature's Ephemera

After the snow melted, I found all sorts of pods, seeds, and feathers on the ground near the shed...

Feathers

I have finally started painting my small collection of feathers.

This first batch comes from a Red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa. It is a gallinaceous bird found in Europe and in Asia.

I tried to identify them, hope I got them right: a flank feather, a plume from the breast, a primary, a secondary (these are wing feathers) and a tail feather.