Almost not there

"A feather...trimmed by the light" - Gertrude Stein. Aren't feathers amazing! I found two of these, but not sure which bird they are from. It's wonderful that the vivid colouring of a bird, and its apparent bulky body, is ultimately formed from tens of thousands of these delicate individual barbs, which in themselves have little colour and are quite flimsy. Knitted together to form a feather they start to show colour patterns and are quite resiliant. A bunch of feathers then becomes a tough engineering solution to flying, keeping warm and dry and advertising for sex. Amazing and so beautiful!