The almost-set sun obligingly accentuated our hero’s breast feathers, as s/he and I looked directly at each other.
Unsure of whether “breast feathers” was the “appropriate” term, I stumbled upon Wikipedia’s “Glossary of bird terms”.
Its unsurprising “breast” entry says this:
The topographical region of a bird’s external anatomy between the throat and the belly.
That glossary also provides clear answers to a great many rather more difficult questions!
(photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken on western side of Lake Monger at 7.03 pm on New Year’s Day)