If Only It WERE Water, Not Oil

Like Water Off A Duck’s Back! A fancy way of saying don’t worry about it, just let it go! In our personal lives, maybe we shouldn’t worry so much. In the case of the Gulf oil disaster, I think we better worry.

Every bird has feathers and everything that has feathers is a bird. Think about it…

Feathers not only provide insultation, allow for flight, but control what a bird will look like. Feathers supply the bird with colours allowing for camouflage and secondary sexual characteristics and sexual display (think peacock).

Feathers look like this:

The basic form consists of a central hollow supporting shaft called a ‘rachis’ and a number of fine side branches. The side branches are called barbs. Barbs also have side branches of their own called barbules. The upper part of the barb contains a series of hooklets (sometimes called ‘Hamuli’) and the lower part is hookless, but slightly convex in form to catch the hooklets of the barbules from the next barb along the shaft. Make sense? Take a look. Birds are waterproof because of how the feathers are positioned.

Preening means the bird is carefully aligning each feather into its proper position. This tightly woven system helps to keep water out and provides insulation for the bird and buoyancy in the water. Living outside, the insulation is vital. 

When birds encounter oil on the surface of the water, the oil causes the feather structure to mat and separate, exposing the bird’s skin to temperature fluctuations. Being overly cold (hypothermia) or overly hot (hyperthermia) can mean death. Preening the oil covered feathers is instinctive and results in ingestion of the oil. Internal organ damage may result.

Preening is so important to a bird that it overrides other behaviors like feeding and keeping safe from predators. Secondary problems like dehydration, weight loss, anemia and death may then occur. Many oil soaked birds loose buoyancy and beach themselves to flee cold water. Fortunate few are captured and cleaned. No wonder we have endangered species.

Click on the picture below to see it larger.

Floating Feather

Can We Keep Afloat?

The tidal wave that’s coming
is coming much too soon.
It’s rising uncontrollably
unaffected by the moon.

This wave that has been building
for quite a long, long time
is carrying with it many tears
flowing silently with the slime

that oozes out among the cracks
from man’s inhumanity
to each other, to the earth
and its mad insanity.

Can we keep ourselves afloat?
Only time will tell
by respect for every living thing
that chose this earth to dwell.

EDWINA REIZER