Variations Within a Species, by Valerie Mann
Building a Better Bird
Knowing full well that I can't outdo Mother Nature, I'm still weaving a bird shape, inspired by the lockers and drawers full of these little jewels of nature at the U of M Ruthven Museum of Natural History. The U of M museum hosts 2/3 of the world's species of birds in its ornithology collection. I am always in awe when the head ornithologist, Janet Hinshaw, and grad student Sara Cole open a locker and pull out a drawer. The colors! The sizes! The adaptations!
With that in mind, check out the photo of the Frigate Bird below my wire bird. I took the snapshot at Dry Tortugas National Park in March 2012. This beauty just soared on the thermals all day long above the pre-Civil War era fort on the Island - Fort Jefferson. With a 7-foot wingspan, imagine how much wire that would take to make!
detail, wire woven bird
Frigate Bird, Dry Tortugas, 2012
woven birds, recycled wire w/new wire
various woven wire birds, inspired by drawing at U of M Nat'l History Museum, bird collection
Drawing at U of M Natural History Museum, week 4
This week when I went in to the Bird Collection, I decided to pull out a tray of hummingbirds that had caught my eye on a previous visit. The little gems were specimens from the western hemisphere and dated from 1897 (2 tiny eggs collected in Ohio) to 2005 (a ruby-throat from right here in Washtenaw County, Michigan). The colors are showstoppers, but the beaks are pretty incredible, as well. I was fascinated by a large rust-colored bird from Bolivia and a smaller hummingbird with a mottled chest and a hooked beak. I'm so interested in the evolutionary details – the reasons for the curved beak, what flower she got her nectar from, etc.
Each time I go to the museum, I learn so much from the head ornithology curator. This week, one of the things I learned is that songbirds only make their songs when they've migrated north, to their spring breeding grounds and summer nesting areas. Scientists believe the lengthening daylight triggers hormone production and they all start singing to find mates. When they're in their southern winter homes, they are nearly silent. Fascinating!