I’m sure you can guess why birds use their feathers for many of these activities, but let’s talk about a few anyway.

Flight feathers are a bird’s main source of protection. In the wild, a parrot rarely bite because if it is up against a leopard or something big then it would not be powerful enough to bite or hurt them. But the bird can fly away to safety.

Camouflage feathers are another source of protection. Take Amazon parrots for instance; they blend in the trees because they’re green and the splashes of color on them look like flowers.  Good disguise.

Birds use their feathers to communicate with each other. In cockatoo language for instance, when they get mad, they raise their crests to help them look bigger. Other birds will fluff up to look bigger, warning a predator, (or you!) to back away. Other feather signs are happy ones. I know that when Flip is happy he’ll puff up and give me a little nudge with his beak to tell me he wants me to preen him. Your bird may have a different signal.  Different birds have different ways of saying that they are happy.

Well that concludes our journey through feathers, but I want to ask you something. When you hear the words “waterproof bird” what do you think? Penguin, duck, goose, sure. But what about parrots? We’ll find out more next month.

<< Read Previous Entry
<< Return To Blog Homepage