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Home > Blogs > Birds and Butterflies > Archives > 2009 > December > 01 > Entry
Preening
Blog By Katy Malcolm
Have you ever encountered a bird that was preening and stopped to watch? Preening, the act of cleaning the feathers is essential for their survival. Birds preen to increase the efficiency of their feathers for flight, insulation, and to be rid of parasites.
Feather structure makes preening a must. Have you ever played with a feather before? The middle of the feather, the rachis, has hundreds of barbs sticking out from it. Each one of these barbs acts just like Velcro. If you pull down on the barbs of the feather, they come apart. If the feather is relatively new, you should be able to smooth the barbs back together. That is what a bird does when he preens. He is repairing all those breaks. If the breaks were not repaired, the bird would have to use more energy to keep warm and in flight. This could be the difference between life and death.
Birds can be observed performing a number of behaviors in order to take good care of their feathers. They will preen themselves or each other. Preening is often used to reinforce the bond between paired birds. Spending time to care for your mate may mean they are around longer to help raise the young. Birds will also sun bathe, which may be a way to get rid of parasites. The energy from the sun warms the parasite, making it more active and easier to find for the bird. Some birds oil their feathers by touching their beaks to their preen glands located just under their tails. This keeps feathers from absorbing too much water. Anting is another interesting behavior. Wood thrushes have been observed running ants through their feathers and common grackles will let ants crawl on them. They may be using the ants to get rid of parasites!
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