Realistic cg bird

hello all,
Is there anyone out here who can help me out with clue that how can i achieve realistic bird feathers using Maya .actually i am stuck in a shot in which i am required to achieve a realistic pigeon bird and its a close camera shot in which bird will be seeing flying and also will be folding its wing.and along with rig i need to also achieve realistic feather look. so what actually i want to know is?
a) Is it possible to achieve realistic feather look through just textures as its a close up shot its should not look fake.and if its not then what are the other option to get the best feather look.
b)the main problem with the rig is to fold up the wings .i did some anatomy study for the wings but to achieve the beautiful folding up of wings is what i am not able to achieve yet.

if you guys have any idea of it or if you know any good links which can help me out then pls do share…

search for “bird” in the tao search bar on the front page.

Yup, comes up often. If you still need help, reply here.