Peahen: Critique Please

Birds are not my specialty, but comparing your mount to reference photos of live birds I do see a few things worth pointing out. The wings seem to be a tad too far back and high. The bottom of the wings should line up close to the belly line on a side view. The thighs also, seem to be attached too low especially for that pose. The feathered part of the thigh shouldn’t be showing. The extended thigh is more for a bird raising up standing tall. These are minor anatomical issues, and I am going strictly from reference photo comparisons. The biggest thing, to me, is the body feathers are hanging way too low from the legs back to the tail - the part of the body closest to the ground should be right at the legs. From there it streamlines back up to the tail.
The feathers around the neck breast area don’t lay smoothly. Try fluffing with air hose or hair dryer. It could be that the skin is twisted a little not allowing the feathers to lay properly. A lot of peafowl have a ragged look on their tail feathers, but you could use white chicken or turkey feathers to set in and create a cleaner look. The view from straight ahead seemed to show the neck and body alignment a little crooked, but it could be the angle of the photo. Just my two cents...compare your photos to reference photos and make notations as to the anatomy variations. I find, for some reason it is much easier to compare photos of my work to reference photos, rather than comparing reference photos to the work looking at it with the naked eye. Looking at photos and making comparisons somehow, for me anyway, helps me see details and imperfections that I miss looking at the mount with my eyes. Good work!

 

Great tip Mike. How did you wire the legs? I find wiring the femur to the body helps get balance figured out. Sometimes pen raised birds just have rough plumage . That’s a big project for sure.

 

The choice between stability and ease of bending and forming the wire can be a struggle. I tend to go with the thickest wire I can still bend. I use large needle-nose pliers to make the bends I need to make. Lots of practice helps

 

If two wires made it sturdy then that’s fine. Whatever works. For me a way to get balance right is taking the leg off the skin Once the bird is skinned. you can place the leg back on the body and manipulate it to mimic walking or standing or flying and see where the joint between tibia and femur travels and rests in different positions. A great tool is a skeletal model with wings and legs wired but flexible so you can see how things work .
Dave Luke has done some excellent Breakthrough articles on bird anatomy and how to get it right. With odd ball birds it’s always helpful to keep the carcass and use for reference. Seldom have I found a body that’s just right. Of course a wrapped body is another great substitute as is a carved one.

 

I used to use the galvanized steel wire for my birds. Yet I found it was sometimes to springy, making it hard to loop it back into the form. Now I use black steel or black annealed wire. I don’t know if they would have it thick enough for pheasants and peacocks/peahens but if they do, I would use it.