Boston Flora

Tag: Feathers

  • Saturday, February 3, 9:30 am – 12:30 am – Avian Coloration: An Art and Science Workshop

    The world of birds is full of diverse feather colors that combine to form amazing plumage patterns– from neon yellow to somber black. How and why do birds achieve these decorative feats? Beginning with a microscopic look at feathers and expanding out to a broad perspective of patterns across bird families, Harvard University graduate student Dakota McCoy will use feather and bird specimens from the University’s collections to explore how and why this diversity of forms arose. Artist Erica Beade will show participants how to capture the nuance of avian color and form in their drawings. This Harvard Museum of Natural History class will take place Saturday, February 3 from 9:30 – 12:30 at the Museum, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Fees: $45 HMNH members/$55 nonmembers. Advance registration required: https://reservations.hmsc.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=11

  • Wednesday, October 18, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – On the Wing Part II

    On Wednesday, October 18 at 6:30 pm, the Arnold Arboretum hosts Lorna Gibson, PhD, Matoula S. Salapatas Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a free lecture (registration required at 617-384-5277, or email adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu).

    What do you get from a bird-lover who is a materials science engineer? A close look at feathers. In this second installment of On the Wing, Lorna Gibson discusses how down keeps a bird warm, how the structure of the feather shaft reduces its weight, and how adaptations of flight feathers produce or suppress sound.

  • Tuesday, May 9, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – On the Wing

    What do you get from a bird-lover who is a materials science engineer? A close look at feathers. In this talk, Lorna Gibson, PhD, Matoula S. Salapatas Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology will speak  at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum about the microscopic structure of feathers and explain how their structure makes hummingbirds feathers iridescent, ducks feathers water repellent and owl ruff feathers collectors of sound.  Free, registration requested.  Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Garden Club of the Back Bay Holiday Wreaths – Feathers

    You are either a feather person (“please, lots of feathers!”) or you are not a feather person (“please, no feathers!!!).  Member Chris Anderson is a master at handling feathers, as the pictured wreath shows.

  • Thursday, October 8, 3:30 – 5:30 pm – Seed Safari

    The New England Wild Flower Society is sponsoring a family program entitled Seed Safari – Study and Collect Seeds, on Thursday, October 8, from 3:30 – 5:30 at the Garden in the Woods in Framingham.  Seeds explode like grenades, shoot like cannons, stick like glue, float like feathers, all in an effort to disperse themselves.  Bonnie Drexler shows how to collect seeds from around the Garden and study them, using all of your senses as well as powerful stereo-microscopes.  Make a seed display to take home and plant some pots of wildflower, shrub, and tree seeds to sprout in the spring.  $12 for members of NEWFS, $14 for non-members.  Pre-registration is necessary.  You may phone 508-877-7630, ext. 3303, or email registrar@newenglandWILD.org.  For additional information log on to www.newfs.org.

    http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/~kenr/prairiephotos/ascltube.seeds.comose2.jpg