what is this>????

Question

what is molting and why do birds do it?

Answer 1

molting is a process where a bird sheds old feathers (not all the feathers they have, only some) to grow new ones. Birds don't do it, it just happens naturally. Come end of Summer, most birds will shed their old feathers so they can grow more, their winter coat.

Answer 2

Molt is the systematic replacement of a birds feathers. All birds will replace all of their feathers starting from the tail feathers moving up to the head once a year. This doesnt happen all at once, so you wont see naked birds running around. :-) It goes on over a period of weeks. Some birds, like ducks, will lose the ability to fly for a couple of weeks because their flight feathers, which are the feathers along the outside of the wing that enable them to fly, drop all at once.

There are some species of birds that undergo this process twice a year, but during the second molt they only lose their body feathers, but retain their flight feathers. Birds like Indigo Buntings have brown feathers in winter, but in Spring get blue feathers on their bodies.