I'm new in to this group and very excited to enter the Qurator's Photo Quest contest! This week the theme is Textures, And I'm just so stoked to be able to share my love of crows in a new way to a new audience!
Picking a main entry was difficult because there are so many awesome textures on a crow, not just in their different types of feathers, but on their feet, beaks skin, eyes...
I finally decided to go with this image of Prince Biggie, First of His Name, Last of His Lineage (you can learn more about this wild name here). It shows off his scaly feet, his chaffed heels, his soft underfluffies, his stiff, sleek, satiny flight feathers and tail feathers with all their individual barbs, and a peek of the contour feathers on his back. It doesn't cover all the different textures on a crow, but don't worry, there's more pictures.
Because Biggie is still young, his feathers are not fully developed like an adult's. You can see some of the softer, downier baby contour feathers on his shoulders mixed in with the firmer adult feathers that are growing in after his first molt.
Here you can see those glossier adult feathers growing in, plus his super small, soft contour feathers that line his head and neck, and spill out onto his back, where the feathers get broader and sleeker. You can also see a molted feather ready to fall off.
From this side angle you can see more of the texture of those head and neck feathers, as well as his shiny eyes, glossy beak, and fleshy pink skin of his gape (corners of his mouth, found on baby and fledgling birds like Biggie) and the pouch on his chin. You can also see some of the scales on his feet.
If you look closer, you can also see a little bit of the semiplume whiskers around his chin, but these still need to grow in.
Here's a picture of his older brother Bo for and adult crow-whisker comparison. See how he has all those tiny little bristly feathers around the corners of his mouth? Bo is molting right now, too, so he's missing some chin feathers. I like how rubbery his skin looks. I really want to touch it, but he won't let me.
And look at that scaly ring around his shiny wet eyes!!
I just love these birds. So beautiful. Little black feathered dragons.
These crows (American Crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos) are wild, but I spend a lot of time with them and they are comfortable enough with me to let me take some very informative pictures. I absolutely love these birds, and post photos and stories about them all the time. If you like this kind of stuff, follow me!
There's still quite a few days left if you want to enter 
Thanks for admiring crow textures with me!
