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A great horned owl with wet feathers, waiting out a rainstorm. The disadvantage of such feather adaptations for barn owls is that their feathers are not waterproof. [24] The adaptations mean that barn owls do not use the uropygial gland, informally the "preen" or "oil" gland, as most birds do, to spread oils across their plumage through ...
Bird ear tufts are skin projections covered in feathers found in some bird species, most notably various species of owl, vaguely resembling mammalian ears, but unrelated to the animal's hearing. Theories about their function range from improved ability to camouflage, [ 2 ] aiding in finding a suitable mate, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] to giving a more ...
Because of feathers being an integral part of quills, which were early pens used for writing, the word pen itself is derived from the Latin penna, meaning feather. [10] The French word plume can mean feather, quill, or pen.
The specialized pectinate claw of a barn owl is used as a comb for facial preening. A bird's plumage is primarily made up of two feather types: firm vaned or pennaceous feathers on the surface, with softer down feathers underneath. Both feather types have a central shaft with narrower barbs branching from that shaft. Pennaceous feathers also ...
addled eggs Also, wind eggs; hypanema. [5] Eggs that are not viable and will not hatch. [6] See related: overbrooding. afterfeather Any structure projecting from the shaft of the feather at the rim of the superior umbilicus (at the base of the vanes), but typically a small area of downy barbs growing in rows or as tufts.
The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") [3] or the hoot owl, [4] is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. [5]
The barn owl, Tyto alba, has a prominent heart-shaped facial disc that aids it during hunting.. In ornithology, the facial disc is the concave collection of feathers on the face of some birds—most notably owls—surrounding the eyes.
Plumage (from Latin pluma 'feather') is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes.