#plumage

A Lapwing Feathursday

The Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) is a wading bird in the family Charadriidae, which includes lapwings, plovers, and dotterels. It is a resident of Great Britain where the noted British naturalist artist and illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979) observed these birds and depicted them in his chapter on "Plumage Study" in Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35), published in London and New York by The Studio in 1945. Tunnicliffe writes:

I think you will agree now that a knowledge of plumage changes is important, for it would never due to put a fine cock Lapwing, in summer plumage, in the middle of a December landscape. Remember that there is always a fierce ornithologist just round the corner, ready to pounce and rend you as soon as you make a "birdy" faux-pas.

Our copy of Bird Portraiture is from the collection of the Library of the Akron Art Institute with its bookplate, and is a gift to UWM Special Collections from our friend Tony Drehfal.

The lesson: don't make "birdy" faux-pas!

View more posts with works by Charles Tunnicliffe.

🌸﹕day 166﹕XYZ

Here we see two exquisite specimens of the genus Gay Serialkillerus Messianicus - better known as Murder Spouses.

Observe the characteristic honey-blonde hair, the flat affect, and the devastatingly-fancy cheekbones.

You will notice that the female’s plumage is more drab than that of the male, which is typical of the species; but that their initial approach to their mates - Frump Lawenforcementicus Illadapticus, also know as Closeted Cops - is remarkably similar.

At first glance, one might even be fooled into thinking that g. serialkillerus is not a strongly dimorphic species; but if we keep watching, subtle differences will begin to emerge.

Did you see it?

While the female is bold and direct in her approach - even in f. lawenforcementicus’ home territory - the male is more furtive.