Beautiful Science. Ptilology

Beautiful Science. Ptilology

The task of Daria Fomina, Deputy Director of the Museum of Local History, who has been studying feathers for many years, is to identify the most interesting feathers from the collected collection. The new grant, worth 1.2 million rubles, is called "Beautiful Science. Ptilology." It is a continuation of the "About the Feather" project, which was supported in 2025. Under this project, Daria and her team are creating a feather identification atlas, which will include information on at least 200 Russian bird species, photographs of the birds and their plumage, and identification guidelines. The information from the atlas will also be available as a mobile app—the first of its kind in Russia. The project will culminate in a conference of specialists in ptilology, a young science that studies feathers.

Thanks to the support of the Presidential Fund for Nature, the results of the atlas will be presented not only to specialists but also to all Ulyanovsk residents. An exhibition will be held at the Museum of Local History featuring 15 large-format photographs of the most beautiful and interesting feathers, along with their descriptions.

"They should reveal the beauty of a feather and the nuances of its structure. For example, an owl's feathers are fluffy, so it flies silently. And a woodpecker's tail feathers are stiff, allowing it to support itself against a tree trunk. We'll demonstrate these connections, because beauty in nature doesn't just happen without purpose," Daria told Ulpressa.

«They should reveal the beauty of a feather and the nuances of its structure. For example, an owl's feathers are fluffy, so it flies silently. And a woodpecker's tail feathers are stiff, allowing it to support itself against a tree trunk. We'll demonstrate these connections, because beauty in nature doesn't just happen without purpose», — рассказала Дарья «Daria told Ulpressa».

An exhibition catalog will also be published, which can be used as a teaching aid. A bird identification app is planned to launch in August. In the meantime, the project's activists are accepting questions about feather identification in the "About the Feather" VKontakte group.

Sourse: Ulpressa