a feather from the whippoorwillfacultyweb.cortland.edu/broyles/411/feathers.pdfflight feathers •...
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A Feather from the Whippoorwill (Emily Dickinson, 1955)
A feather from the Whippoorwill
That everlasting -- sings!
Whose galleries -- are Sunrise –
Whose Opera -- the Springs –
Whose Emerald Nest the Ages spin
Of mellow -- murmuring thread –
Whose Beryl Egg, what Schoolboys hunt
In "Recess" -- Overhead!
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Photograph by Robert Clark—Audubon Magazine 2012
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Avian Feathers
Function, Structure & Coloration
• Tremendous Investment
– 25,000 on Tundra Swan
– 2-4,000 on songbirds
– 970 on hummingbird
• Feather Mass=2-3X Skeletal Mass
• 91% Protein (keratin)
1% Fat, 8% water
• Waxy secretions and fatty acids from uropygial gland protect feathers
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Feather Outline
• Functions in addition
to flight
• Structure & Variation
• Coloration
– Pigments
– Structural Colors
• Origin of feather color
and recent fossil
discoveries
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Do feathers have a function or are
they just an expensive costume?
• Insulation
• Sound production
• Sound capture
• Camouflage
• Aerodynamics
• Sexual selection
• Protection
• Nesting, diet, other
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Diverse Functions
• Crypticity
– Disruptive color patterns in
Killdeer and meadowlarks
– Mimicry in bitterns, snipe, and
woodcock
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Diverse Functions
• Sound production for attraction – Booming of Ruffed Grouse wings
– Primary flight feathers of American
Woodcock
– Hummingbirds
• You Tube Hummingbird Music
– Manakins
• Manakin Wing Sound
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Diverse Functions
• Sound gathering properties
of owls and some hawks
– Eastern Screech Owl
– Northern Harrier (hawk)
http://www.wisenaturephotos.com/NEW!!!%202-10-06.htm
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Diverse Functions
• Support
– Tail rectrices of woodpeckers
• Protection
– Bristles over nares
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Diverse Functions
• Display
– Aggression
• Red-winged blackbird threats
• Sun Bittern
– Attraction --sexual selection
• Peacock tails, colorful plumages
• Tail length in Barn Swallows
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Diverse Functions
• Thermoregulation
– Heat retention, natal down
– Convective heat loss--radiation cooling
– Solar heating
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White in Winter
• Air spaces in feathers scatter light
• Dual Functions – Insulation
• white plumage and pellage has a higher insulation value
– Crypticity
• avoid predation or be a more effective predator
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Feather Structure
• Epidermal and epithelial
development
• Terms
– Rachis
– Barbs, barbules
• Proximal and distal
– Superior & inferior
umbilicus
– Pennaceous & plumaceous
barbs
– Pulp caps
BOARD
ILLUSTRATION
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Down Feathers & Contour Feathers
• Plumaceous vanes close to
skin provide excellent
insulation
• Heavy down coat in
waterfowl • Cover feathers
• Smooth the non-
aerodynamic edges and
folds of the avian body
• Substantial pennaceous
and plumaceous barbs
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Bristles & Filoplumes
• Thin, hair-like, facial feathers
– Protection of eyes--woodpeckers
– Tactile, insect collection--nightjars
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Filoplumes
• Whisker-like feathers
hidden throughout
plumage
– Believe to enhance tactile
and sensory capabilities
http://www.reinhold-necker.de/seite4.html
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Flight Feathers
• Remiges
– Primaries attached to manus
– Secondaries attached to ulna
– Provide airfoil surface for flight
• Rectrices
– Tail feathers provide lift, rudder
and breaking capabilities for
birds
BOARD
ILLUSTRATION
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Cedar Waxwing
1º 2º
Rectrices
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Flight Feathers
• Remiges
– Primaries attached to manus
– Secondaries attached to ulna
– Provide airfoil surface for flight
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Flight Feathers
• Rectrices
– Tail feathers provide lift, rudder
and breaking capabilities for birds
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Feather Coloration
• Melanins--oxidized products of
tyrosine
– Dark colors--black, gray, dark brown, brick
red
• Temperature regulation
• Longevity of feathers
• Gloger’s Rule--darker colors in
humid tropical regions
• Melanosome shape and density
determine whether feather is gray,
black, or rusty
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What do the following birds
have in common?
Snow Bunting Whooping Crane
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What do the following birds
have in common?
Snow Goose Northern Gannet
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What do the following birds
have in common?
Gull Red-footed Booby
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What do the following birds
have in common?
Scarlet Tanager American Goldfinch
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Feather Coloration
• Carotenoids--diet derived pigments of a plant source
– Brilliant yellows, oranges, and reds
– Rarely found in wings
• Carotenoid Stories
– Cedar Waxwings
– Flamingos
– House Finch
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Recent color variation in rectrices of Cedar Waxwing.
Orange or Yellow?
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Where does the Egyptian Vulture
obtain its Carotenoids?
Moniguero--dung eater in Spanish--Coprophagy
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Psittacorfulvins “the other red pigment”
• Found in all members of the Psittaciformes
• Endogenous production
• Resistant to Bacillus licheniformis
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Structural Colors • White, blue, and some green colors are
formed by air spaces around deep
embedded melanosomes
– Short wavelength light is easily reflected in air
• Blue Jay, Indigo Bunting, Honeycreepers
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Structural Colors
Iridescence
• Structural color where the viewpoint of the observer determines and direction of light source vary
• Interaction of surface layers, melanin granules, and air spaces of barbules
• Hummingbirds & grackles
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Origin of Feathers & Coloration
• Anchiornis huxleyi
– meaning “near bird”
– 150-161 MYA
– Considered a dinosaur with
wings and feathers
– Glider
• SEM analysis of feather
impressions
Li et al., 2010. Plumage color patterns of an extinct dinosaur. Science 327:1369.
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Anchiornis Feather Coloration
Melanosome Fossil Impressions
Wings
Head
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Anchiornis Feather Coloration
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Feathers of Dinosaurs & Birds
P owered Flight
First Appearance of Color Patterns
In Gliding Dinosaurs
Ancient & Modern Fossil Birds
First Appearance of Color Patterns
in non-Volant Dinosaurs
Sinosauropteryx
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Protective Care for Feather Investment
• Preening
– Removes ectoparasites
– Streamlines feathers
• Oil secretions
– Uropygial gland
– Keep feathers supple
– Anti-parasite chemical
• Dust & Water Baths
• Anting--formic acid protection
• Sunbathing
– Heating in TVs
– Drying in Anhinghas
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Feather Detectives
• Why would professionals from the
following disciplines / organizations want
feathers identified?
– Federal Aviation Administration
– FBI and USFWS
– Archeologists
– Ecologists
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Plumage / Molts
• Basic--non-breeding plumage, female-like
• Alternate--breeding plumage
• Timing--post-breeding, pre-migratory – Usually annually, sometimes 2X
• Feathers are molted in sequence – Inner primaries to outer primaries
• Why molt?
www.jkcassady.com/images/1SCTA0902.jpg
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Molting and Life History of
American Redstart
• Hydrogen Isotope data
– Indicates location of
bird during molt
• Males that molt on the
run have lower
carotenoid content in
feathers
Norris, et al. 2004. Reproductive effort, molting latitude, and reproductive effort in a
migratory songbird. Science 306:2249
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Molting and Life History of
American Redstart
• Males that fledge young,
molt further south
• Males that fledge young
later in the season molt
further south
• Males with greater
reproductive effort molt
further south
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Balancing Reproductive Effort and
Survival in American Redstarts
• Males that delay migration,
molt during stress, arrive later
to winter grounds, and may
lower reproduction the
following year
• Males with low reproductive
effort, molt during period of
low stress, arrive earlier to
wintering grounds, and may
improve reproduction the
following year.