This week we read a book by Melissa Stewart called Feathers: Not Just For Flying. While we knew that feathers were an important and defining trait of being part of the bird family, we learned all the ways that feathers help birds - many of which were surprising!
We knew that feathers keep birds warm as a protective outer covering that trap heat and that soft feathers could be used by mother birds to line her nest like a cushion to protect her eggs. It was interesting to discover that feathers also protect a bird's skin like sunscreen as well as work like umbrellas to shade an area over water to help a bird spot prey under the surface.
While some birds use oils from special glands to make their feathers waterproof to help them float or to repel water like a rain jacket, other birds' feathers are designed to absorb water like a sponge to bring water to baby chicks. And some use the added weight of their water logged feathers to help them sink in the water to reach the fish, crayfish and shrimp they are hunting for.
There are even more ways feathers help birds in their daily lives - for camouflage, for cleaning themselves, for attracting a mate or distracting a predator and many more!
Check out the pictures below of the observational feather drawings students created using feathers from our class collections.
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