FLIGHTLESS WONDERS

 

Flightless Wonders, acrylic on canvas, 2022. 24" x 31.5"

All birds have wings, but not all of them can fly. These birds are mostly big and heavy, with some being the heaviest and tallest birds to walk the earth. They bear various features different to other birds. For example, ratites, the family which contains the ostrich, emu, cassowary and rhea, have downy feathers which lack the smooth, flat, airproof surfaces which other birds have for flying. They have sturdy, strong legs that allow them to run fast.

The world's biggest and heaviest bird, the ostrich (left) is also the only bird with just two toes on each foot. It is also the fastest running bird, reaching speeds of up to 60 km per hour (37 mph).

There are three species of rhea, which is a type of ostrich-like flightless bird that lives on the plains of Brazil and Argentina in South America. The greater rhea (Rhea americana, top right) looks like a small ostrich but has more feathers on its neck, larger wings and three toes on each foot.

The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius, bottom right) is a beautiful flightless bird which lives in New Guinea and northern Australia. They are closely related to kiwis, another type of flightless bird found in New Zealand. The most distinctive feature on cassowaries is its head which is vivid blue and sports a hard, horn-like crest on top of its head, which it uses to push through thick scrub. They eat fruits, seeds and other plant parts.

The emu (top) of Australia grows up to 170 cm (5.6 feet) and weighs almost 45 kilograms (100 lbs). It is second only to the ostrich in size, and can run almost as fast. It eats an extremely varied diet in grasslands and woodlands. Although flightless, emus have vestigial (near-useless) wings, which they flap when running, perhaps as a means of stabilizing themselves when running. 

The kiwi (bottom center) is New Zealand's national bird. There are three species of kiwi, all native to the islands of New Zealand. They grow to the size of chickens and are covered in shaggy feathers like a fur ball. The kiwi's wings are tiny and hidden beneath its dense coat of feathers. They are also nocturnal, being active only at night to forage for grubs, insects, berries and fruit on the forest floor using the best sense of smell of almost any bird. A kiwi's nostrils are located at the end of its beak to sniff out food in the leaves and soil. Kiwis lay the largest eggs in proportion to their body size of any bird, six times as big as other birds their size, in which it is similar in size to an emu's egg, each weighing around 454 g (16 oz). After the female lays the eggs, the male incubates and protects the egg until it hatches into a chick which is like a miniature version of the adult, complete with feathers and open eyes. Most kiwi species only lay one egg per clutch, except the brown kiwi (pictured) which lays two per clutch. 

The kakapo (Strigops habroptila, right) is a species of large, flightless parrot which lives in the islands of New Zealand. The world's heaviest parrot, it has evolved to lose the ability to fly due to having no natural predators. It has green feathers which allow it to blend into the forest floor. It was once thought to have been wiped out by introduced cats, rats and dogs, but a few survivors were taken to a predator-free protected area on Little Barrier Island near Auckland, where they can breed to ensure the species' survival. 

The South Island takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri, bottom left) is a flightless swamphen native to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. Takahe were hunted extensively by Māori but was not named and described by Europeans until 1847. Adult takahe have silky, iridescent, and mostly dark-blue or navy-blue feathers on the head, neck, and underside, peacock blue on the wings, while the back and inner wings are teal and green. Their beaks and feet are bright red. Found in alpine grasslands habitats, it feeds on grass, shoots, and insects. After long threats of extinction, South Island takahe now find protection in Fiordland National Park, which is New Zealand's largest national park.

During the first year of life, ostrich chicks (bottom left) grow at about 25 cm (10 in) per month, sporting fawn-brown feathers with dark brown spots. Baby ostriches have distinctive striped necks with speckles of darker brown. They are are the biggest of all chicks, starting off at the size of a small chicken. 

Cassowary chicks (behind ostrich chick) have reddish-brown heads and chests, and their backs are banded with dark brown stripes from the neck to tail, with narrow stripes on their thighs, with pale and unbanded underparts. They are not born with the helmet-like casque on the tops of their heads, although there is an area of exposed bone where it will later form. 

An emu chick (right) develops at about three months after hatching and has blackish feathers finely barred with brown, with the head and neck being especially dark. This striped down acts as camouflage, and the chicks lose it in around three months or so.