Katrina von Gruow wrote and illustrated The Unfeathered Bird in which she arranged birds without skin and often only the bones into poses of activity like flight. She agreed for me to stylize some of her illustrations into carved feathers. After all, this is what is underneath all those feathers that allows the bird to power flight.
Although we don't often see them because they live over open ocean, the small Wilson's Storm Petrel is among the most abundant of birds. They flutter about like butterflies, not so much landing on the water but dancing with their feet on the surface of the wave troughs.