Bird Watcher's General Store
Bald Birds - 08/18/00
|
Dear Bird Folks,
Last week you
talked about weird looking baby birds. But I'm seeing weird looking adult
birds, good-looking adult birds whose feathers seem to be falling out in
clumps. Are they sick? What's wrong? Relax Linda:
The birds that you
are seeing are not sick, they are molting. Most people (except for my uncle)
change their outfits once or twice a year. Most of our songbirds go through a
complete molt in late summer, after the breeding season. Molting and growing
new feathers takes a huge amount of energy for birds, so the molting is timed
to take place while the weather is still warm and food is still plentiful.
Many birds are much quieter during the molting period. They lie low, too
embarrassed to be seen with their underwear showing. The molting starts
at the head and works it's way down toward the tail. Some birds change so
slowly that we never even notice, while others can be much more dramatic. We
get lots of calls about crestless Cardinals and bald Blue Jays this time of
year. And even though most songbirds replace all of their feathers during the
summer molt, most songbirds are able to keep enough feathers on them so they
can still fly. Besides needing
feathers for flying, birds also need feathers to attract a mate or to hide
from an enemy. Most importantly, a bird's feathers are its only protection
from wind, rain, snow, cold and heat. Healthy feathers are critical to birds.
A bird can't slip on an extra sweater when it gets cold or call up L.L. Bean
to replace a jacket that it just spilled gravy on. It has to grow its clothes
and that takes time. So don't worry,
Linda, if you see birds with some missing feathers in August. The feathers
will grow back in plenty of time for the winter. Now if I can only get the same
thing to happen with my hair. |
Artwork by Catherine Clark
Back to Article Index
Bird Watcher's General Store *
36 Rt. 6A, Orleans, MA 02653 toll-free: 1-800-562-1512