Jasmine's Daily Grooming

Feathers require a lot of maintenance. It is said that the average bird has more than 2000 feathers, but it depends on the size of the bird and where and how it lives. A swan can have as many as 25,000 feathers during winter. Whatever the number, Jazzy certainly has a lot of them!







The feathers must be kept in good condition so that the bird stays warm, and can fly at all times. It's a time-consuming business. And to that end, Jazzy preens at different times throughout the day.





Her neck is amazingly flexible, allowing her to reach most places on her body.
Like many birds, she has a gland near the base of the tail from which she gets an oil that she spreads on her feathers to protect them.













Jazzy is molting right now so we have a chance to see a variety of her feathers up close. She has all types of feathers: fluffy, very small ones and larger ones.

The small one shown here that looks a bit like a firework is one of her down feathers and it's very small. The other one with a touch of pink in it probably comes from somewhere on her body under her wing.

The hollow tubular shaft of the feather provides strength and flexibility and is very light. The feather is made up of barbs, coming off the shaft, which have tiny hooks, barbules, all along them that latch the barbs together. These often become separated and the feather splits (as you can see in the photo). When the bird preens it runs its beak up the shaft, from the base of the feather toward the tip, realigning and reattaching the barbules along the way. When this is done, there are no longer any splits in the feather.








The down feathers don't have barbules and so the barbs splay apart, providing good insulation to keep the bird warm.









The variation in feather size and shape is quite astounding.There are even many differences in the small feathers. The smoother small feathers here are from the top of Jazzy's head, and they're very cute.







Jazzy takes great care of her feathers. And here she is making sure that her bright red tail is kept in the best trim.