zoological studies

written 20241111.

one of my favourite things to do if i’m feeling a bit tired and burnt out, and have no energy for really anything else, is to copy out images of birds and reptiles from obsolete manuscripts and encyclopedias. the engravings in medieval and renaissance books are often beautiful and full of character.

field studies

these are images copied from random photos or while out actually walking around in my beloved mountains.

white-winged choughs

of all the australian birds, white-winged choughs have to be my absolute favourite. they’re gregarious, plump little birds that trawl through the leaf litter in big groups. they’re named for the white undertips of their wings, but i think their red eyes and mournful little calls are more distinctive.

you’ll usually find choughs roving across the ground. in my experience they only really fly if they’re really freaked out by something, say a magpie, or if they want to huddle together in the crook of a tree for a little while.

choughs really don’t seem to register people as a threat. they’ll generally ignore you and keep foraging, or at most look at you or spread their wings in what they must think of as a threatening display. a lot of the ones i see around the mountain are banded, which suggests they’re not a very evasive sort of bird.

medieval and renaissance books

johannes jonstonius, 1657, historiae naturalis de avibus

the images are all copied from plates xviii and xix of historiae naturalis de avibus, and depict various owls. there is a slightly strange quality to the ways they’re represented. owls are already a bit eerie, but these engravings really lean into giving them unsettling expressions. it doesn’t help that many of them are holding their most recent kills in their talons.

konrad von megenburg, 1475, das buch der nature

these images are all copied from the first plate of das buch der natur. the book i worked from did not indicate species for any of these birds, although for some you can probably make a reasonable guess.

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