Light but Useful! Feathers Not Just For Flying by Melissa Stewart

BIRDS AND FEATHERS GO TOGETHER.

ALL BIRDS HAVE FEATHERS, BUT NO OTHER ANIMALS DO.

But we now know that dinosaurs did, too!

Of course, birds use their feathered wings to fly, but most people don't think much about what else feathers do (and did for dinosaurs)--they keep them warm! At least, people don't think about the warming powers of feathers until they need a down jacket and find out that "down" is a kind of soft, fuzzy feather from ducks and geese that holds heat very well. Birds have always known that, of course, lining their nests with down from their chests to help eggs hatch and keep their nestlings warm.

Herons used their long feathery wings to fly, but they also use their wings to shade their chicks and to help shade the water where they wade and spot fish to spear. In the tropics feathers protect against sunburn, too.

When birds oil their feathers, they become waterproof and help them float on water or glide through it gracefully, or dive down deep. Well-kept feathers help penguins slide on the snow, the way to go if you're are a short-legged, flightless bird.

But feathers are very versatile. If birds don't oil their feathers, they can soak up water for their nestlings to drink. (It's hard to bring a beaker of water to the nest in your beak!) For the manakin, wing feathers make squeaky noises to attract female attention, while the notorious peacock just spreads his gorgeous tail plumes and parades majestically. Who wouldn't notice him?

From tiny filoplumes to flight feathers, birds have got'em, in Melissa Stewart's fascinating facts about feathers, Feathers: Not Just for Flying (Charlesbridge). Illustrator Sarah S. Brannen provides the simulated nature notebooks with what appears to be feather collections. photos, drawings, and birdwatching specimens, one complete with a couple of trompe l'oeil faux coffee rings in the birder's notebook, making this a well-designed book to read for facts or browse just for the lovely illustrations. Other books about birds of a feather include Just Feather Photos! Big Book of Photographs & Pictures of Feathers, Vol. 1 and sequels.