One of the strategies for identifying ducks is to focus on their high contrast white plumage - particularly useful in poor lighting and from long distances. As taught by Kevin McGowan of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, tracking the specific location of white markings can help birders easily identify different species. This piece evokes a field guide page, with the iridescent blue of the Monk Parakeet wing feathers standing in for the blue of the water, while the duck is carved out of the dark grey portion.

This shadowbox is made with legal-to-own, naturally shed feathers on archival cotton papers, and framed in a black lacquered wood frame with museum acrylic, ready to hang and display.