Birds have feathers for a reason, these animals use their feathers for balance, warmth, to attract a mate, to protect themselves from the rain, and more.
But what happens when a bird loses its tail feathers? This article looks into it
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What happens when a bird loses its tail feathers?
Different birds use their tails for different things, a bird will have to navigate the world differently if it loses its tail feathers.
Birds that lose their tail feathers will be able to survive, but they will be slightly disadvantaged for a little while until they can grow these feathers back.
This is what happens when different birds lose their tail feathers:
A difference in landing:
Certain birds use their tail feathers to land, when these birds land they spread their tails and this slows the bird down, the tail feathers act as natural breaks.
If these birds lose their tail feathers their landing will not be as smooth and streamlined
A difference in flying:
Many soaring birds need tail feathers to soar to the best of their abilities.
The bird’s tail, in addition to the bird’s wings, allow birds to ride on thermals of warm air. Without tail feathers, birds would not be able to do this as efficiently as they would with tail feathers
Balance when flying:
One of the reasons why birds have mastered the art of flying is because they have an even number of wings and legs on both sides, they are symmetrical, this keeps them balanced.
The bird’s tail feathers also help to keep birds balanced and perched, without tail feathers birds wouldn’t be able to balance as well when flying
Balance when pecking:
Woodpeckers use their tails for balance, balance is needed when these animals peck into trees, their tails serve as an anchor that supports them as they lean back before striking the tree.
Without tail feathers, these birds would be off-balance as they peck at trees.
Courtship issues:
Certain birds, like peacocks, use their tail feathers when trying to attract a mate, the male peacock will display his colorful tail to the female to attract her.
Other birds, like turkeys, also use their tail feathers when looking for love. Male turkeys fan their feathers for the female to see and admire, and if the female is interested, she will choose him to mate with
Can a bird survive without tail feathers?
Although tail feathers are important to birds, they are not a necessity. Birds will not die if they lose these feathers.
A bird will die if it isn’t able to escape predators or find food and water, a birds tail feathers aren’t needed to do any of these activities and thus, the bird will be fine without them
Do tail feathers grow back?
Yes, tail feathers do grow back, a bird’s feathers will start to grow back within a couple of weeks of losing them depending on how healthy the bird is.
Growing feathers requires a lot of nutrients, this process needs vitamins, minerals, and proteins.
This is why birds that have lost feathers, need to eat a special formula that contains vitamins and minerals like biotin and B vitamins, these nutrients help with feather growth.
If a wild bird loses its tail feathers then it will need to find and eat foods that contain high amounts of vitamins, protein, and minerals in order to grow its feathers quickly
If the bird has all of these then its tail feathers will quickly regenerate and regrow with no issue.
That being said, a quick and easy regrowth of tail feathers will only be seen in tail feathers that have been removed through plucking by the bird, plucking by another bird, or removal by a predator.
If feathers were damaged or broken, then these feathers will only grow back when the bird goes through its next molting period.
In addition, if the bird’s tail feathers were plucked out consistently for long periods of time, then this may have resulted in too much damage to the bird’s feather follicles.
If this is the case, then the bird’s feathers may never grow back because the follicles can’t support feather growth anymore.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Do Birds Pluck Their Babies’ Feathers?, Bird Plucking Feathers Under Wings, Budgie Plucking Feathers Under Wings, Bird Losing Feathers Under Wings