Some photography with an avian theme for you this Sunday. I’m very much looking forward to a training course I’ll soon be doing with the BTO, exploring birdsong, while Tom has been pursuing his own explorations of birds and feathers in the studio. The wee sculpture is by the very talented Claire Smith.










The patterns on some of those feathers look very much like some advancing twill weaving drafts, but then I do remember a day demonstrating spinning at a National Trust farm near Melbourne when I sent my fellow demonstrator to look a a flock of heritage chickens and said ‘they’re the ones with the fancy twill feathers’. Obviously inspiration from feathers for weaving drafts
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Have you read What the Robin Knows by Jon Young? Everything you need to know about birds and their songs, explained.
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thanks for this recommendation!
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Lev Parikian has been tweeting about bird songs for months now. It’s been an amazing musical journey. If you don’t already know it I think you would find it fascinating.
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Very nice and yes I see feathers in the woods, mostly turkey which the dogs grab and EAT!
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Wow!
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Do you know the “chanteurs d’oiseaux” ? If you want to listen them : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dzaq3dr7Pk&t=186s
Mouchka
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All week I’ve had a piece of poetry stuck in my head, Emily Dickinson
Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul,
that sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all,
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After your feather post last year, I started finding feathers everywhere. I live in a city, so this is different. I’m blown away by the complexity of the colors and patterns. They are such a great inspiration to me for combining color and pattern in ways I never would have thought on my own. Thank you (I feel like I get to say that you a lot) for opening my eyes to this.
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Oh my goodness. The feathers look almost super-real. Illustrated but not. Good work Tom. Wow.
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Kate, I love your work! Great post as always. You are such an inspiration. Thank You!
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Oh yes! I am a Birder, but have never mastered birding ‘by ear’ — much more a visual birder. But it’s all wonderful and fascinating….
If you don’t know of it, check out Cornell’s Macaulay Library, which is THE repository for bird audio from around the world: https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/
Of all the birds I have had the privilege to see and hear, perhaps my favorite sound is that of the Oropendola. Here’s one: https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=ruboro1&q=Russet-backed%20Oropendola%20-%20Psarocolius%20angustifrons
Bubbles in the jungle! Who knew?
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What a find this archive is! Thank you so much BeeGee!
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Oh, yes, a beautiful sound! I like the skylark a lot (https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=skylar&q=Eurasian%20Skylark%20-%20Alauda%20arvensis) the arrival of summer and he can be heard while biking through the wide heathers.
I like collecting feathers too (did you know there are mushrooms, fungi, specialised in feathers? They are tiny!). Owl feathers are my favorite, so soft.
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What birds are the feathers from, Kate?
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mostly pheasants – I find a lot when I’m out walking.
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How beautiful, thank you x
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