Five Rare Feather Uses - Feather Function #3

Some birds use their feathers in rare and interesting ways. I was surprised to learn about them! Please subscribe to continue learning what makes life AWESOME: https://biobush.tv/subscribe These rare or unique methods for using feathers are the extreme edge cases where birds are pushing the limits of what's possible with feathers. #1 Eating Feathers Grebes regularly pluck and eat their own feathers. They also feed their feathers to their babies. Grebes also eat fish, so our best guess is that they wrap fish bones in a ball of feathers to help protect their digestive system. #2 Snowshoe Ptarmigans forage on the ground, even in winter when there's snow on the ground. They have rare feathery feet to help walk on top of snow. #3 Stealth Every bird stirs up the air as it flies. Lots of birds make big whooshing sounds as they fly because they stir the air into a vortex with each wing. A vortex is kind of like a whirlpool in air. Anyway, owls have cool frills and fringes on their wing feathers. These fringes make tiny vortices. And tiny vortices are quiet. Stealth! #4 Carry Water This is my favorite of the bunch. Sandgrouse have special belly feathers that are normally curled up. But when the sandgrouse stands in water the feathers unfurl into cup shapes and hold water. Then the sandgrouse can fly back to their chicks and let them drink from their belly feathers! What!? #5 Make Sound The opposite of the stealthy owl, the Club-winged Manakin tries to attract attention by making loud "EEEE" sounds. But the sound is produced by its wings! They have modified feathers that shake 1,400 times per second (!) and produce sound waves we (and other Manakins) can hear. There's two other videos in the "Feather Function" series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNqfC8Az0YdJTlA4xHjf1gWGQxuZb5MP8 Creative Commons "Barred Owl sleeping, grooming, fly off by srcampsite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM9iPeV73b8 "Kwessiegat: Sundowners and Sunrise in the Namib Desert" by William Hofmeyr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebYrzoPQ4Go "Bellavista View 2015-06-06 (1)" by Don Henise https://www.flickr.com/photos/85277889@N08/39599642954 "Club-winged Manakin" by ryanacandee https://www.flickr.com/photos/31267353@N03/29768530604 Sound Clip from "Club-Winged Manakin Dance" used under copyright fair use guidelines. See and hear the whole dance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSHjhCN6NC0 Bizarre Birds - https://goo.gl/Y6W3ha Ask a Zookeeper #1 https://goo.gl/gDoYXo // New animal videos every Monday. Life is AWESOME. Learn why! I'm tweeting about birds at - https://twitter.com/BioBush And will (eventually) Instagram at - https://www.instagram.com/biobush/ Thanks for watching! You're awesome! -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Learn about some awesome birds in "Birds of Prey - Full Wildlife Documentary 2019" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYrufpW3PfY -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-