From Wild Wings Inc
Ruby is in the middle of a molt, which means she’s shedding old, worn feathers and growing in fresh new ones. Molting is an important process that keeps her feathers in top shape. It might look a little silly now, but give it time, she’ll be back to her stunning self in no time.
I was this years old when I found out that owls shed.
It is a very cool process!
When birds groom themselves (preening) they are doing all kinds of things. The one often thought of is when they rub their preening gland (uropygial gland) to get oil to rub on their feathers for weatherproofing. But they are also doing things like removing damaged feathers, pushing others back in place, and smoothing out the barbules (the individual strands of the feathers) so they interlock properly.
Feathers will get damaged and not function so well anymore, so they will get shed and new feathers will grow from the follicle., sprouting as pin feathers encased in keratin husks while they finish growing and developing. The keratin will eventually flake off and the new feather will poof out in all its glory. This is generally an ongoing process throughout the year as each feather takes a few weeks to grow back.
The nifty thing is birds lose feathers somewhat in a specific order. If a bird lost a bunch of wing or tail feathers all at once, they would be grounded for weeks/months until enough grew back, which would be bad news. A non-flighted bird will normally not fair well in the wild. So they lose one or 2 feathers from an area at a time! This way they can keep on doing their regular thing and maintain a decent set of feathers. We can even see this pattern under UV light. Pigments on new feathers will be bright and shiny while old ones are dull.
Conversely, there are areas of feathers that are functional but not necessary for flight. When temperatures warm, all those head feathers aren’t so crucial for warmth and they don’t affect flight, so they will undergo “catastrophic molt” where they just about all fall off at once, leaving them really shaggy looking like they got in a fight with their barber.
If a lot of flight or tail feathers do get damaged (fire/electrocution/other traumatic injuries), a technique called imping can be used. Feathers are trimmed at the base and donor feathers are glued in place. This help the bird get by until the feathers are naturally shed and replaced. As long as the feather follicles themselves are not damaged, this technique can be very effective.
Damage
Snip
Splice
Repeat
And ta-da!
You didn’t have to write all this and make this guide on the topic. But you did and I am grateful for that.
Thank you. Bless your autism.
Not enough people have been asking questions this week so I have a bunch of pent up 'splaining to do 🤪
I prefer “meticulously disheveled.”
I love a shaggy Screech. Weird Alice lives not so far from me so I see her now and again and I swear no matter what time of year it is, she’s looking even moltier than this! 😄
Not my pic, just googled one up of her quick
The name fits the look!
She’s great! I love her!
