In YOUR garden, a ruby-throated hummingbird hovers in all its glory to extract nectar from a beautiful flower. A peacock unfurls in the zoo, its splendid tail feathers in a dazzling play of colors. The splendor of these birds depends, of course, on the feathers.
For the human wardrobe, the tailor, the seamstress and the cutter choose fabrics of different types and colors. What an interesting amount of clothing they produce with their vines of wool, cotton, silk and synthetics! However, bird clothing is made from just one material - keratin. This resistant core protein is the substance of the nails as well as the hooves and claws of animals. With him, the great bird wardrobe designer has far exceeded the imagination of human stylists in terms of beauty, variety and utility.
Tender but still strong
Just as tubing has advantages over a solid rod, the hollow-based rod is similar to bone in strength, but only a fraction of the weight of solid bone. The thickest part of the feather is the vertical part that anchors the feather in a bird's hair follicle.
The spider then becomes the axis from which bifurcate parallel shards on each side. Perpendicular to each column are small protrusions called rails where small hooks act as hinges between adjacent tenons, creating a strong but soft fabric that can be bent freely or repeatedly without breaking.
With the bird's feathers unlocked, prepare them until all the feathers are properly closed. With all his sturdy feathers, he is completely protected from the cold and wears a waterproof headgear and a raincoat. Ducks and other sea birds have been observed to have their feathers distracting the birds' blows.
Which way
The feather cocoon forms in a small follicle in the skin of the bird. Wonderful and complicated changes take place during development. Unique spring segments are created in a cape that are tightly wrapped around an axis. The packaging is so ingenious that when you see a pen that has already grown, you might wonder: how does it fit on something that fits in such a small space?
When development is complete, the blood vessels feeding the growing cells dry out, the fur breaks, the bird quickly removes debris and prepares its new feather in great shape. The feather is basically dead tissue that no longer needs nourishment from the bird's bloodstream, a real boon in saving the bird's circulatory system.
Different Varieties
Feathers come in different shapes, sizes, colors, and variations. Most are for functional purposes, while others are for display purposes only. Birds have feathers, each in proportion to their needs, larger birds without excess, while dwarf birds are absent. In the royal edition, it was found that one of the larger birds, the whistling swan, had 25,216 feathers, while the small ruby-throated hummingbird, adorned with all its adornments, had 940!
Functionals include soft coats carefully designed to provide "thermal" underwear for our bird lovers. Under a magnifying glass, you can see chin guards and spikes that are long, thin and very flexible, but without hooks. The very light, deformed mass of soft, feathery twigs insulates the bird's body and keeps it warm in a cool, summery climate.
Some birds have more feathers than others. Ederanden is one of them. In fact, she uses the excess silk as insulation to cover a nest with the "baby blankets" for her fluffy ducklings. The Antarctic emperor penguin also wears a soft garment under its wind and waterproof contour feathers. This allows it to stand still for about three months without food while incubating a free-standing egg that can withstand winds of 80 km / h and temperatures of -50 ° C!
Speaking of outline feathers: these are designed to allow the bird to fly more efficiently and are arranged in a species-specific pattern. The central shoulder is slightly curved to adapt to body surfaces and always points from the beak to the tail. At the base, a soft part allows to modestly cover the "underwear" near the skin of the bird of the next row of feathers.
Have you ever seen a hen puffing up feathers to cover eggs or newborn chickens? The contour springs attach to the skin's muscles and fibers that lift them in this way. In addition, the bird can chemically clean or arrange its plumage as needed, or capture more air for insulation or air conditioning.
Perhaps even more fascinating are the flying feathers, the "propellers" that lift and move the bird in the air. Only one of them can hold up to a million intelligently designed and assembled parts. At the end of each wing there are 10 or more primary springs which are the main propulsion unit for the whole wing. Then there are 17 secondary springs which, like the primary springs, have an extremely strong spring and a step stem attached to the bone structure. They can all rotate on their own axis, so that they can overlap properly during the downward movement and open like a curtain during the upward movement. Incredibly light tertiary springs gently cover the rest of the wing structure, resulting in an aerodynamic profile of unmatched quality.
Other air springs belong to the tail, where strong muscles allow them to be pressed, folded out, folded or tilted at will. Therefore, these 10 or more springs have the same function as the rudder, stabilizers, flaps and cranes of an aircraft during take-off and flight and as a pneumatic brake during landing.
Coloring
Much less obvious is the representation of the colors that characterize the beauty of ornithology. Blue, green, yellow and red go well with Painted Bunting, while the male cardinal dares to appear in public with a light red coat from the top of the top to the tip of the tail, only his black face gives off contrast.
Many bird feathers differ in color depending on the habitat. The well-dressed cartridge changes from brown in summer to almost pure white in winter, a perfect camouflage for Arctic areas. In the lush green of the jungle are bright green rage. In desert regions, the colors of the sand they use make the birds go unnoticed by predators.
The color of the feathers is the result of a combination of structure, pigmentation and reflected rays. White feathers have a microscopic structure that fully reflects white light. To create shades of blue, small particles in the composition of the tip bend, scatter and reflect only rays of blue light. Green tones derive from the combination of a blue structure with a yellow pigment, while red pigmented feathers absorb the blue-green part of white light and therefore reflect only the red wavelengths. It is this wonderful feather structure that allows our eyes to have fun with all the colorful feathers in the bird world.
Specialty
There are many features in the feather world. The tough feathers in a woodpecker's tail, like a line stop, can support it when it climbs a tree. The parrot grows on its legs with very long and distinctive feathers, which act as "snowshoes" in winter. Infants of the African sand dune receive water every day from the absorbent feathers in the breasts of the male bird. Some torches and cartridges penetrate the air through special "musical" feathers on their wings to create a singing sound. Geese use the powerful feathers on their wings as weapons of war. We must not forget the gentle knights of the bird world who make their women special feathers. Among them are great crested grebe, heron with heron, unforgettable birds of paradise and Australian lyre.
In fact, feathers are a design marvel. Fascinating miracles are truly these technical masterpieces! All credit to the great creator and designer of this beauty and utility.