A Conversation for Colours of Wildlife: The Hamerkop, Africa's Enigma Bird

Fascinating

Post 1

Icy North

I hadn't heard of the Hamerkop before, so this was fascinating.

Its beak looks not unlike that of the kookaburra - one of the kingfisher family. I guess it's not related in any way?

smiley - cheers Icy


Fascinating

Post 2

Willem

Hi there Icy North! I'm happy you found this interesting. The Hamerkop is related to Kookaburras only in the sense of also being a bird! Actually ... to split hairs, kookaburras and hamerkops are both neornithines, neognaths, and neoavians. But pretty much all birds are ... so hamerkops are as closely related to eagles, owls, parrots, penguins and flamingos, as they are related to kingfishers. Bill shape relates to feeding ... and interestingly, even among the kingfishers there's a wondrous diversity of bill shapes. From the tiny flattened bill of the African dwarf kingfisher, through 'regular' kingfishers, the Stork-billed Kingfisher, and Kookaburras with stout bills, the hook-billed kingfisher, and then the shovel-billed kingfisher that actually uses its bill to plow up the earth looking for earthworms!


Fascinating

Post 3

cactuscafe

And I'm also fascinated by this sketch of yours, Willem. Is it done in pencil - kind of like a soft drawing pencil? Amazing. How long does it take you to do a sketch like that?

smiley - artist

cc


Fascinating

Post 4

Willem

Hello there cactuscafe! You'll see the dates there, 1992 and 2004. I sketched it while at university in 1992, when I should have been studying (I was taking physics, chemistry and mathematics, not art). I can't remember just how long it took me, but it's fair to say I worked at it over a few days, doing a bit of sketching each day. It was with a soft pencil, yes. But I then reworked it in 2004. The only change was to the background - I used a photo-editing program to smooth the background out a bit - and very slight changes to the head and bill.


Fascinating

Post 5

cactuscafe

Wow. That's amazing. Thanks, Willem. Imagine doing a sketch like that, when you're supposed to be studying physics, chemistry and maths! smiley - rofl. A born natural, eh? Incredible. smiley - artist

ccsmiley - ok


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