Katrina van Grouw, whose early work appears under her maiden name, Katrina Cook, is a licensed taxidermist and bird bander, a natural history illustrator for magazines and books, an author and a successful fine artist. She graduated with an MA from the Royal College of Art, spent seven years as a curator of birds at London’s Natural History Museum and left to work on the book that became The Unfeathered Bird, the subject of tonight’s talk. Twenty-five years in the making, the book, in her drawings of birds without their feathers and in her text, makes clear how birds’ “appearance, posture and behavior influence, and are influenced by, their internal structure.“ The Editorial Reviews section of the book’s Amazon page lists excerpts of reviews from 42 publications, containing such words and phrases as “extraordinary,” “fascinating,” “captivating,” “simply superb,” “genuinely new insights into the behavior of living species,” “an adventure,“ “a remarkable blend of science and art,” “a treasure trove of 385 stunning anatomical drawings,“ ”haunting,“ ”seductive,“ ”magnificent,“ ”a monumental achievement,“ ”wonderful and enlightening,“ ”a classic,“ ”a precious thing,“ ”utterly unique,“ ”gorgeous,“ ”truly a magnum opus,“ ”astounding,“ ”[u]nsettling and irresistible.“ She writes, “Originally intended as a tool for artists, The Unfeathered Bird gradually evolved into something more ambitious, and every day my eyes were opened to some new discovery. The book became a work intended equally for scientists and artists, but also for anyone with an appreciation of birds or an interest in their adaptations and behavior. Its 385 illustrations of 200 species were made from actual skeletons, virtually all of which were prepared and reconstructed at home from specimens donated from zoos, wildlife hospitals and conservation charities. In this talk I will explain my aims and inspirations and share what I’ve learned about birds beneath their feathers, from where to find a toucan’s nostrils to why it is that birds have proportionately longer necks than almost any other animal.”
