The side of a female mallard by the Upper Pool in Prospect Park. The patch of blue with white edge is called a speculum (that’s Latin for “mirror,” ladies). A number of our ducks have these, but I think this blue/white combo is unique to the mallards (of course, ducks are great hybridizers, so hybrids can sport these as well). The color is specifically on some of the secondary flight feathers, those on the back edge of the wings closest to the body.
Abstract Specificity
2 responses to “Abstract Specificity”
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The journal of the Medieval Academy of America is called “Speculum,” an obvious throwback to the days when most medievalists were men (and a source of wry bemusement for today’s women medievalists).
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Judging from some of the old boy Medievalists I’ve met, I bet women in the field need all the irony they can get their hands on.
To me, the colored feathers looks more like a window, so I wonder why they didn’t call it a fenestra, or something like that.
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Backyard and Beyond 
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