compendium-of-beasts:

Anseri Bassano affinis fusca avis, The Booby. (1754)

via NYPL

This is the brown booby, currently known as Sula leucogaster. These birds are true sea-birds, preferring to spend their life alight, save for raising chicks, and they roam between islands along the Atlantic coastline of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean islands. 

scientificillustration:

Muscles of Eudyptes chrysocome - the Southern Rockhopper Penguin

Anatomy of Penguins Plat VIII

scientificillustration:

Dronte - the Dodo

“This previously unpublished drawing of a dodo is an important and exciting addition to the known images of this iconic extinct bird. First recorded by Dutch mariners who explored Mauritius in the last years of the 16th century, the dodo was extinct by 1700, and has fascinated the popular consciousness ever since.

Early images, which are extremely rare, can usually be linked to one of a handful of prototypes. However, this characterful study has no relation to any of the known visual sources. It rivals in vivacity the representations by Jacob Hoefnagel (circa 1610; National Library of Austria) and the head study, possibly from life, by Cornelius Saftleven (1638; Boymans Museum, Rotterdam) (E. Fuller, Dodo: From Extinction to Icon, London, 2002, pp. 80-81, 111).

The possibility that the present drawing was also sketched from life, while unlikely, cannot be completely discounted. Live dodos are known to have been transported from Mauritius as curiosities. A dodo was recorded at the menagerie of the Mogul Emperor Jahangir in about 1625 (Institute of Oriental Studies, St Petersburg; Fuller, pp. 94-5); and, in about 1638, Sir Hamon L’Estrange saw a live dodo exhibited in London (Fuller, p. 69).

The present drawing is unusual, however, in the lightness of the plumage. It has some similarities to the colouring of the bird shown in a watercolour by Pieter Holsteyn (Teylers Museum, Haarlem), dating from the 1630s. Traditionally called the White Dodo of Réunion, the bird in the Teylers Museum drawing is now thought to show an albino dodo (Fuller, p. 170), which may also be the case in the present drawing. 

The inscription on this drawing, ‘Dronte’, was the Dutch 17th-century name for the dodo, although at this period it was also used in a number of other languages including French and Italian.”

scientificillustration:

Dodo Skeleton 

From: Owen 1872 Dodo Part II

drawnblog:

Some lovely paintings of birds from a set of books from 1806 by by François Levaillant and Jacques Barraband. (via BibliOdyssey: Birds of Paradise)

rhamphotheca:

Northern Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium gnoma)

from the journal Ibis (1875), by John Gerrard Keulemans

scientificillustration:

Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) by George Raper, 1769-1796.

Things I have thought WAY too long about: how to create an objective set of raw data to determine which animals are the most BAMF. Things at which I have not yet succeeded: see previous sentence.

Animals that Just Don’t Give A Fuck™:

1. Honey Badger
2. Secretary Bird
3. Wolverine
4. Cassowary
5. Bottle-nose Dolphin
6. Barn owls
7. Octopuses
8. Mongoose
9. Komodo Dragon
10. Cane toad*

Ranking based on Swag, Badassery, Illusory Cuteness and Disregard of Surroundings.

*Debatable. Is it so ugly it’s cute, or so ugly it’s just fugly?

ofpaperandponies:

scientificillustration:

n181_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Tete du Catharte condor

Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d’oiseaux
A Strasbourgh ;Chez Legras Imbert et Comp.,1838.
biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109466

This is one badass bird.

rhamphotheca:

dendroica: Red-shouldered hawk with Ribbon Snake

n224_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Birds and nature in natural colors. v.1.
Chicago :A.W. Mumford, Publisher,1913-1914.
biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33165

rhamphotheca:

Keel-billed Motmot (Prionirhynchus carinatus, now Electron carinatum)

fromProceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1857), by Jennens

rhamphotheca:

a subspecies of Bare-faced Go-away Bird (Schizorhis leopoldi, now Corythaixoides personatus leopoldi)

from the journal Ibis (1881), Joseph Smit

Go-away bird!

rhamphotheca:

Festive Amazon (Chrysotis chloronota  , now Amazona festiva)

from Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, Vol. 20 (1891), by John Gerrard Keulemans 

Festive! Party time with the parrots! Festive party in the Amazon!

…I’m ok, really.

rhamphotheca:

Chloropsis viridinucha, now considered a subspecies of the Blue-winged Leafbird (C. Cochinchinensis)

from Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum, Volume 6, by John Gerrard Keulemans

rhamphotheca:

Wattles of Male Tragopans, from A monograph of the pheasants. (created 1918-22),  

(artist: William Beebe)

• Fig. 1. Wattle of Western Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus)
• Fig. 2. Wattle of Cabot’s Tragopan (Tragopan caboti)
• Fig. 3. Wattle of Temminck’s Tragopan (Tragopan temminckii)
• Fig. 4. Wattle of Blyth’s Tragopan (Tragopan blythii)
• Fig. 5. Wattle of Satyr Tragopan (Tragopan satyra)