![]() Just like humans, birds release body heat during respiration. Small birds, like Blue Tits, may need to spend most of the daylight hours foraging in winter to find enough food to keep warm. That’s why you’ll often see birds looking ‘puffed up’ during cold weather - they’re trapping more air in their feathers to keep warm. ![]() The weight of a House Sparrow’s plumage increases by 70% in autumn as the number of downy feathers grows, maximising insulation in preparation for colder conditions.īirds can also fluff up their plumage to increase the number of air pockets, which reduces heat loss in a similar manner to the benefits we gain from wearing several layers of clothing. This air is warmed by the bird’s body heat, and prevents the cold air in the environment from chilling the bird - a bit like wearing a thermal underlayer. These are small, soft and fluffy, and trap an insulating layer of air around the bird’s body. Under the contour feathers sit downy and semiplume feathers. This Robin has fluffed up its feathers to create more air pockets close to its skin, insulating it from the cold. However, these feathers are still important for birds in the garden, protecting them from cold rain and sleet. ![]() These feathers prevent cold water from touching the bird’s skin and are especially critical for birds like wildfowl and seabirds, which are regularly submerged or partially submerged in rivers, lakes or the ocean. The feathers’ waterproof properties are maintained through careful preening, which keeps them in an interlocking structure. They are arranged like roof tiles over the bird’s body, overlapping so the downy part of one feather is covered by the waterproof tip of another. Each of these feather types is superbly adapted to its function.Ĭontour feathers are made up of a waterproof tip and a soft, downy base. As well as the feathers we can see when watching birds, like those used for flight (the wing and tail feathers) and those which cover the bird’s body (‘ contour’ feathers), there are thousands of tiny feathers sitting next to a bird’s skin (‘ downy’ and ‘ semiplume’ feathers). WaterproofingĪ bird’s feathers aren’t just for show. Although plummeting temperatures can make winter a challenging time for small birds, they have several adaptations which help them through the colder months. In the recent cold spell, you may have been wondering how the feathered visitors to your garden survive.
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