eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Continuing the new "Amateur Ornithologist" thread... (And remember, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has their Citizen-Science Gateway. Check it out.)

So what's next? Well, the first installment of this series took a look at birds' feet and legs.

Now how about them thar feathers and wings and how can we quickly compare them to a small aircraft's wings and whatnot! Thankfully, the kind folks who donate to Wikipedia have done the legwork here...

Birds' Feathers

Birds' Wings

Finally, there is this... Bird Flight from Wikipedia. That is a phenomenal collection of work.

So for the sake of this post... What about birds and flight? What's so remarkable? Let's see...

• The common Black-capped Chickadee is ready for flight within 20 days of leaving its eggshell. That's quite an accomplishment considering that we have yet to get a human-powered, flapping, flying machine reliably off the ground after 70 years of "modern" (post DC-3) effort. However... We're still fascinated with the concept of an ornithopter, but we aren't quite there yet.
• Well, the fact that birds don't have rudders (or vertical stabilizers) yet still can fly is pretty amazing. A plane's rudder (the vertical "sticky-uppy thingy" on the tail section of an aircraft) both controls yaw (the plane's tendency to oscillate side to side while still remaining parallel with the ground) AND it works in concert with the ailerons (those flapping panels on the trailing-edge of the outside of the main wings) to "coordinate" or smooth an aircraft's turn. Instead, birds use a complex system of feather and head movements for control...
• And nowhere is that set of feathers (and the controlling muscles) more apparent than in the landing process... Check out the crow photo below...
  
  
  
  Note the primary (outer stern feathers on the main wings), the secondary (inner stern feathers on the main wings), and the twelve rectrices (tail feathers) acting as "air brakes". Simply amazing.

Well, that should be enough boredom for now... Expect an unusual article in the near future. (Hmmm... One might wonder how a person could use birdseed as a component in a parlor game? Hmmm???)

See you by the feeders, ...

CapeCodAlan

And as always, thanks to the following resources:

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Wikipedia
• Audubon Society
• U.S. Geological Survey
• MSN Encarta
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”
• ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden
• ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks
• Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America"
• Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds"
• "Birdwatching" from publisher "Discovery Travel Adventures"