Mystery Bird (1 Viewer)

[AvianGH1]

Dear bird lovers,

I'm working on a school project, where we need to find a mystery bird, based on some parameters.
These are the following:

MYSTERY BIRD INFO:​

Weight: 8.94 N

Mass M. Pectoralis: 46.7 gram

Mass M. Supracoracoideus: 5.5 gram

Wingspan: 128.5 cm

Wing Area: 1870 cm2

I didn't quite manage to get an proper idea on how to find this bird. I hope some of you could help me with this quest!
What bird or species of bird might this be?

Kind regards,

A desperate student

 

[Richard Prior]

Welcome to Birdforum GH! You show the weight of the mystery bird as 8.94 N, what does N represent?

 

[KC Foggin]

Apparently N stands for Newtons which I believe is Kilograms. At least what I gathered from a google search.

 

[mummymonkey]

Apparently N stands for Newtons which I believe is Kilograms. At least what I gathered from a google search.

If so then it's a weighty bird for the wingspan. A turkey or some such.

 

[RafaelMatias]

Weight: 8.94 N

8.94N = ca. 0.912kg = 912g

 

[RafaelMatias]

Some clues:
if you consider the open wings as defining one single rectangle, and given you have both the length of the longer side (Wingspan: 128.5 cm = 1.285m) and the area of the rectangle (Wing Area: 1870 cm2 = 0.1870m2), you can deduce the length of the shorter side of the rectangle (the approximate width of the wing), which will give you the approximate shape of the wings (broader wings will indicate some species, narrower wings will point to other species).
I'm not sure you'll be able to narrow it down to one single species though, but as you make progress with the above you'll likely get closer to the right answer.
I have some ideas on the answer

 

[etudiant]

So a two pound bird with a four foot wingspan.
It sports a slender wing with an overall 7:1 aspect ratio, yet the major flight muscles are only 52.2 grams of the total weight of 912 grams,, so less than 7% of the total, versus 25-40% for flight capable birds according to Wikipeadia.
Something flightless maybe?

 

[dantheman]

So a two pound bird with a four foot wingspan.
It sports a slender wing with an overall 7:1 aspect ratio, yet the major flight muscles are only 52.2 grams of the total weight of 912 grams,, so less than 7% of the total, versus 25-40% for flight capable birds according to Wikipeadia.
Something flightless maybe?

Wouldn't you have to take something off the wingspan to allow for the width of the body (bodyspan? ;-) ) - not sure how much it affects the result in principle. Don't flightless birds tend to have shorter wings? - Something gliding/soaring perhaps like a shearwater? (Not a penguin as they still have to 'fly')

 

[Nutcracker]

So a two pound bird with a four foot ...

Two pounds will buy you a chicken, but I've yet to see any bird with four feet . . . sure it isn't a mammal or a reptile?

 

[RafaelMatias]

The measurements are not far off from Cory's Shearwater (by weight, or more correctly body mass, could be a female or a lean male), but no details were given on where this supposed bird occurs (is it an European species or can it be any species in the World), or if it was a real species or a theoretical bird. However, it seems the OP has not revisited the thread since posting. Since this is a school project I was more trying to help than to revolve the problem. Muscle mass can be variable throughout the year and between individuals so I'm not sure it can used in a very helpfull way.