Science Smarts: Up close and personal with feathers

By PATTY ROOKS on August 13, 2022.

This week, I thought I would get you outside exploring nature. There is so much to explore in southeastern Alberta if you have the time. Not to mention how very fortunate we were this past week to have beautiful weather to enjoy. Before you know it, the temperatures will begin to get cool, and dare I say it? Snow may arrive…

As I take a walk every day, I see feathers lying on the ground. It seems there are more and more – perhaps they are also enjoying the weather!

Did you know birds are a lot like humans? You have probably noticed you lose strands of hair each and every day. Birds on the other hand, tend to lose their feathers without even knowing it as well! If you keep your eyes open, you can find feather on the sidewalk, or even in your own backyard. Have you noticed quite a few feathers in your yard? I challenge you to go have a look right now and then we can get started on this activity!

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Several feathers

• SAFE place to look and gather feathers

• Magnifying glass

• Science notebook

• Pencil

• Microscope (optional)

Procedure

1. Find a SAFE place and gather up some feathers. Try to find different kinds, or even colours.

2. Sit down and lay your collection of feathers out.

3. Make some observations in your science notebook. Are there any similarities? Differences?

4. If you have a magnifying glass get up close and compare them.

5. If you have a large feather, try and separate it in half. Use your microscope to observe the “pattern” in the feathers. Are there any that are different or the same?

6. Make a hypothesis as to which feathers belong to the different birds in your backyard.

What is going on?

If you made some careful observations with the magnifying glass or microscope you should have seen some similarities in the feathers you gathered to hair and even perhaps fish scales. A major difference though with feathers is that they have small branches on them, called barbs. An amazing thing about these barbs is that they can also help repair the feather. If you take your finger and try to piece the feather back together that you separated you will see this. Place the feather between your fingers, starting at one end (or the quill), pull the feather between your fingers as you push the edges together with your other finger all of the way to the edge. Observe; it should repair itself.

Perhaps you also observed the many different kinds of feathers. Birds have two kinds of feathers. The larger feathers are called contour feathers and the small, soft, fluffy ones are down.

Mark your calendars, the Praxis AGM will be held on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Kiwanis Centre in Medicine Hat. We are always looking for board members and volunteers. We would love to have you join us, please email or call for more details on attending.

Patty Rooks, Senior Scientific Consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community”. Contact with Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. Address: #12 826 11 Street S. E., Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403.527.5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.