read this and you will know
The one characteristic that distinguishes birds from all other living groups is the covering of feathers. Feathers are epidermal growths attached to the skin that serve a variety of functions to birds: they aid in thermoregulation by insulating birds from cold weather and water, they are essential to bird flight, and they are also used in display, camouflage and signalling. There are several different types of feather that serve different purposes. Feathers need maintenance, and birds preen or groom their feathers daily, using their bills to brush away foreign particles, and applying waxy secretions from the uropygial gland, which protects feather flexibility and also acts as an anti-microbial agent, inhibiting the growth of feather-degrading bacteria.[37] This may be supplemented with the secretions of formic acid from ants, which birds apply in a behaviour known as anting in order to remove feather parasites.[38]
The arrangement and appearance of feathers on the body is known as plumage. Plumage is regularly moulted, the standard plumage of a bird that has moulted after breeding is known as the 'basic plumage', breeding plumages or variations of the basic plumage are known as 'alternate plumages'.[39] Moult is annual in most species but some species may have two moults a year, while large birds of prey may moult once in two or three years. Ducks and geese moult their primaries and secondaries simultaneously and become flightless for about a month.[40] Different groups of birds have different moulting patterns and strategies. Some drop the feathers starting sequentially from outward-in while others replace feathers inwards-out and the rare others lose all their feathers at once. The first or centripetal moult as termed for the moult of tail feathers is seen for instance in the Phasianidae. The second or centrifugal moult is seen for instance in the tail feathers of the woodpeckers and treecreepers, although it begins with the second innermost pair of tail-feathers and the central pair of feathers is molted last, so as to permits the continuous presence of a functional climbing tail.[41] The general pattern seen in the passerines is that the primaries are replaced outward, secondaries inward, and the tail from center outward.
A bird is not entirely covered by feathers, but the feathers grow in tracts of skin. The distribution of these feather tracts varies between the taxonomic groups. Prior to nesting, the females of most bird species gain a bare brood patch by loss of feathers close to the belly. The skin here is well supplied with blood vessels and helps in incubation.[42]
2007-06-22 10:33:28
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answer #1
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answered by pink cute fairy 2
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maximum cruise speeds are interior the 20-to-30-mph selection. almost all birds have 2, and a few 3 speeds: for cruising, emergencies, and migration. A poultry that generally flies at 20mph could average 30mph on migration, and in panic flight before a predator could attain 40mph for some seconds. Impressions is additionally deceptive. The smaller the poultry the faster it style of feels to be traveling. actually, greater birds like ducks are between the swiftest, from time to time achieving an air-velocity of a mile a minute. it particularly is approximately two times the value of small birds which seem to dart approximately so immediately. Seabirds in all probability carry the checklist for the quickest wind-assisted speeds. Albatrosses and shearwaters are long-winged and geared up like gliders. various species spend their finished lives interior the solid winds of the 'roaring Nineteen Forties' interior the Southern Hemisphere. Ranging as much as 350 miles interior the direction of an afternoon's flying is an element and parcel of their foraging routes over the sea, yet very almost all the attempt is provided by capacity of wind. certainly, the longest-winged species scarcely could desire to flap in any respect. Pintail duck fifty 5-sixty 5 m. p. h. Albatross 60 m. p. h. Teal 50-fifty 9 m. p. h. Mallard 50-fifty 8 m. p. h. Falcon 40-40 8 m. p. h. Sand grouse 40 3-40 seven m. p. h. Brant 40 5 m. p. h. Canada goose 40 4 m. p. h.
2016-09-27 22:25:43
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answer #2
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answered by suero 4
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Because walking is boring! Given the option of flying,let's face it,if you could,you would!
2007-06-16 10:00:45
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answer #3
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answered by New Boots. 7
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my dear it quite simple why do you walk???to get food,drink,to escape n other natural things which we need to do in the very way they dnt have superior leg structures to walk instead they are equiped with better stuctures called wings to fly thats why they do that.
2007-06-22 19:59:31
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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CAUSE GOD MADE THEM THAT WAY!!! imagine a world where birds dont fly...
2007-06-16 09:51:27
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Are you dumb? They just fly. That's the way nature maid them.
2007-06-16 14:37:47
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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For the same reason you walk:
to get somewhere to eat
to get somewhere to sleep
to get away from danger
or, particularly for Corvids, to PLAY!
Wheeeee!
.
2007-06-16 10:17:44
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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It's too far to walk.
2007-06-16 09:36:22
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answer #8
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answered by dryheatdave 6
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2pt
2007-06-21 05:05:11
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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because they have wings =)
...dont ask why they have em lol
2007-06-16 09:32:14
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answer #10
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answered by fadingAway 2
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