Silvery-cheeked Hornbill Preening
by Barry Kent MacKay
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Price
$950
Dimensions
24.000 x 30.000 x 0.250 inches
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Title
Silvery-cheeked Hornbill Preening
Artist
Barry Kent MacKay
Medium
Painting - Oil On Compressed Hardboard
Description
The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill (Bycanistes brevis) is a raven-sized, boldly black and white-patterned bird found in the tropical and subtropical forests of eastern Africa, from Ethiopia to South Africa. Hornbills belong to a family of birds found in warm climates of Africa and Melanesia. They all have large beaks, and many, like the Silvery-cheeked, have “casques” on top of the beak, some quite elaborate. They look heavy, but the walls of the beak and the casque are supported by an interior fretwork of supportive solid tissue, so that the beak is surprisingly lightweight. The color of the beak, casque and un-feathered facial features of this species are quite variable. Most species of bird have an uropygial gland, also called an oil gland, which is a sebaceous (secreting) bi-lobed gland located on top of the base of the tail. Birds can frequently be seen reaching their beaks to the base of the tail and then preening. They do this to pick up a small amount of oily secretion the nature and properties of which vary among different species. For some birds, like ducks and grebes, it provides waterproofing, but it may also help control parasites and may even be anti-microbial in at least some species. The duct through which the secretion reaches the beak (and in some species, the foot) to be distributed, through preening and head-rubbing among the feathers, opens at the top of a papilla. That is a nipple-like structure only visible to an onlooker only at close range. My research including standing next to a captive hornbill as he preened. Like toucans, hornbills have amazing beak-dexterity and can squeeze the oil out gently enough so as not to cause any damage, as I have tried to show in this painting.
Uploaded
April 2nd, 2021
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