Helpful sites

[MADA]

Hi.
Here are two helpful (at least to me) sites for you birdcarvers out there

http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/wings_Alcidae.html
This one have a lot of wings outstreched.

http://www.skullsite.com/index.htm
This one has a lot of birdskulls and the best of all you can scroll down and click on search google and it will find a lot of images for you.
Should really try this one and see if you like it.

Magne

[jax]

Magne,

Thanks for the skullsite....I found it very helpful.

I'm carving a Greater Scaup, drake, and was trying to find the measurement of its bill...........I settled on 2 1/4 " from my search on Google, there was only one site that had the measurement and that was buried in the text of the report.

The skullsite indicates that the bill is 42mm........what would that be in inches?

I down loaded the the three views of the bill for reference.

Thanks again,

Jax

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

If I did my math correctly 42 mm is approx. 1 11/16"

[Nancy-G]

Ed - last night I played with my rulers that showed mms and that's what I came up with too, but it sounded so far off from 2 1/4" and so tiny for a scaup bill, I decided I must be wrong.
And I can't be trusted with numbers.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

I cheated and used a calculator, but if you used a ruler and that's what it said, that's what it is. Whether the bill is that size or not I have no idea. My sole interest in birds is shootin em and eatin em not measuring or carving them. Well, I do have a problem with them flying over my driveway!

[big_Wayne_P]

I do not carve birds either

never knew I would be doing conversion frm metric to inches

have not done any of that since Jr. High
and that was over 40 years ago

Ed you must have a book with the conversion formulas
I could never remember those formulas

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Nope - don't need no stinkin book - just a real smart calculator - hp-28c - does it all for you.

[LCorbett]

To convert Millimeters to Inches divide by 25.4. 42mm / 25.4 = 1.65" or just a little over 1 5/8".
To convert Inches to Millimeters multiply by 25.4 (make sure you convert your fractional inches to decimal first, ie; 1.65" x 25.4).

I prefer to work in millimeters for bird carving.

As to that bill measurement, jax...there is often confusion about where bill/beak measurements are taken. The standard (ornithological) way of measuring is from the forehead to the tip on the centerline. BUT, often other sources will give measurements from corner to tip (on the side of the bill/beak) without telling you that's where it is from. I am hesitant to accept any measurement from non-ornithological sources that don't state where the measurement was made.

Another thing on bill/beak measurements...on birds with extremely curved bills/beaks like raptors, the meaurement is taken from forehead to tip on a straight line...NOT following the curve of the bill/beak.

Let me get into my reference material and see if I can come up with a bill measurement for your greater scaup, jax.

[LCorbett]

jax...the measurement for the greater scaup bill is 47mm (1.85"). This is from the culmen notch (the point of the "V") to the tip on the top centerline of the bill.

[jax]

Thanks to all for the "conversion''....mm to inches.

Lori, I suspect that the 2 1/4" I got from the text was a side measurement of the bill as you indicated.

Last night I made the bill 2".........maybe I can cut it back a bit.

The scaup was to be an entry in a show 5-6 Feb, but it's doubtful now.

Jax.