Welcome back!
This week I have been studying and sketching the anatomy of the house sparrow, and how its anatomy helps it fly.
To start I investigated the differences of female and male sparrows.
Female sparrows have a more brown and gray appearance while males contain more orange and red hues specifically on top of their heads.
Bird's bodies are specially evolved for flight starting with their hollow and lightweight bones which are very small under their feathers. A birds egg is something widely recognized but less recognized is the function they serve by not weighing the bird down. In addition birds organs are prioritized, their lungs are large where as a bladder is done without. rather than having teeth birds have a gizzard to grind their food.
Undoubtedly the wings on the bird are another important part of their flight.
The tapered shape of a birds wings cause the air to move faster on top of it compared to below it, this acts to suck the bird into the air.
The primaries attach to the metacarpal and the phalanges creating a forward thrust and the secondaries are attached to the ulna and are responsible for lifting the sparrow. by having two segments of feathers attached to two different bones the birds are able to collapse their wings while flapping on standing on the ground.
Next week we will be looking into the outside factors that help birds fly and also the flight patterns specific to the Passer domesticus (House Sparrow).
in the end all these pieces will culminate into a painting created with all of the gathered data in mind.
See you next week!
Sources:
https://journeynorth.org/tm/FlightLesson.html
https://www.petcoach.co/article/bird-feather-types-anatomy-growth-color-and-molting/
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/id
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/winganatomy.html
image reference:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/id
https://www.deviantart.com/key-feathers/art/Bird-Wings-Tutorial-201057544