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Why is this kestrel so fluffy? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Julie50
- Start date
Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
Nice shots Julie - birds fluff up their feathers to keep warm (trapping air which acts as insulation) so perhaps there was a chill in the air. Fluffing up feathers (piloerection) is thought to have social functions too such as response to predator (you?!), mating ritual etc both of which make the bird look larger.
Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
Juvenile birds do indeed have looser feather structure (poorer quality of feathers) and ‘fluffy’ (to make them look bigger?) but in this case your Kestrel is an adult male - juveniles/1w look similar to females and are heavily streaked on the breast (not spotted).
RafaelMatias
Unknown member
Extensively explained in this old paper below by Desmond Morris (the same guy who wrote "The Naked Ape"):
The Feather Postures of Birds and the Problem of the Origin of Social Signals
Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
Thanks for posting the link to the paper - it’s quite dense reading in places but very interesting (and comprehensive!). I am surprised there is no mention however of feather shedding due to sudden stress or shock - eg sometimes birds shed feathers during ringing and pigeons eg will shed (lots!) of feathers when grabbed by a cat as a defensive mechanism. I'm also surprised, given the very full treatment here of primary and secondary feather posture functions, no mention was made on the role of feather posture for buoyancy in aquatic birds - but the paper was already long enough without that 
Btw - I remember seminal books from my childhood on the shelves in my Dad’s study at home - books I was told to read, Silent Spring , (Rachel Carson) was one, The Naked Ape was another.
Btw - I remember seminal books from my childhood on the shelves in my Dad’s study at home - books I was told to read, Silent Spring , (Rachel Carson) was one, The Naked Ape was another.
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