- Nov 9, 2013
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The following puzzles me.
On mornings following rain, which in mid-winter is seriously cold, chicks turn up looking like this. But I wonder if snow, which doesn't 'collapse' their plumage, actually affects them less. I am always amazed, when patting black-head chicks, at how wonderfully 'puffed up' effective their feathers are.
Dads are reputed to put on a serious layer of fat on their backs before incubating, and lose most of it during incubation. Interesting! Is that an insulation that their feathers don't provide because they're sitting stock still in the rain? when they can't shake themselves dry? I watched Boy Emu incubate for seven weeks. He was in among trees, which was some protection. But he also sat stock still while it simply poured rain on him for literally days on end.
SE
On mornings following rain, which in mid-winter is seriously cold, chicks turn up looking like this. But I wonder if snow, which doesn't 'collapse' their plumage, actually affects them less. I am always amazed, when patting black-head chicks, at how wonderfully 'puffed up' effective their feathers are.
Dads are reputed to put on a serious layer of fat on their backs before incubating, and lose most of it during incubation. Interesting! Is that an insulation that their feathers don't provide because they're sitting stock still in the rain? when they can't shake themselves dry? I watched Boy Emu incubate for seven weeks. He was in among trees, which was some protection. But he also sat stock still while it simply poured rain on him for literally days on end.
SE
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