BIO 554/754
Ornithology
Lab 2 - Feathers, feather tracts, and molt of the plumage



 
STRUCTURE OF A CONTOUR FEATHER 
 rachis 
 calamus 
 inferior umbilicus
 superior umbilicus
 vanes (inner & outer)
 barbs
   barbules
     barbicels

TYPES OF FEATHERS
 contour
 semiplume
 down
 filoplume
 bristle
 powder down
 neossoptiles (natal down)

NUMBERS OF FEATHERS (see below)
 primaries
 secondary remiges
 alula feathers
 rectrices
 

PTERYLOSIS (see below)
 pterylae
 apteria

 capital tract
 dorsal (or spinal) tract
 scapulohumeral (or humeral) tract
 femoral tract
 crural tract
 caudal tract
 alar tract
 ventral tract


Source: http://www.birdersworld.com/amazingbirds/1996/9604_feather.html
 
 



Numbers of feathers (from Chaplin, S. and J. Faaborg. 1988. Laboratory Manual and Field Exercises. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ):


 



While most other birds' feathers produce a small amount of powder, powder feathers
(yellow feathers near the bottom of the photo that form a "V") are highly developed in herons,
egrets, & bitterns and the quill of the powder down is continuously growing and disintegrating, thus
creating the powdery substance.  The barbs of powder feathers disintegrate, providing a fine powder that is
thought to aid in preening and waterproofing the other feathers. They are the only feathers that grow continuously
and are never molted. While many species have powder feathers scattered within patches of normal down, they are
most prominent in the herons and bitterns (family Ardeidae), and are located on the breast and belly.
 

(Source: The Bird Banding Program at Powdermill Nature Reserve)
 



Source: www.zoo.ufl.edu/courses/vertzoo/Images/Birdlab/FeatherTrack.jpg


Useful links:

Feathers

Feathers - Part I

Feather Structure - Cornell

Integument, feathers, & molt

Back to BIO 554/754 syllabus