Bird Wing |

You Can Take Care of Your Bird when He Breaks a Blood FeatherBlood feathers, also know as pin feathers, are new feathers that still have a blood supply to their shaft to support growth. When one becomes broken, the resulting bloody mess can panic bird owners. Blood feathers can be broken from flapping or banging against the inside of a cage, from a  fall, or a wing trim gone bad. Dealing with the broken blood feather is really straightforward, and no cause for drama.Identifying a Blood FeatherIf you’ve never seen a blood feather on your pet bird, take some time to look at the lower portions on the shafts of the large primary flight feathers on your bird. All feathers start out as pin feathers when they first grow in, but the bigger flight feathers are just the easiest to see. Most of the shafts will be white, and sort of see through, clear, with full feathering already in place. A blood feather, however, will have a thicker shaft that is dark purple. The color is from the blood filling the inside of that shaft to feed that growing feather. The blood feather won’t be fully grown in yet, and may only have a little bit of feathering at the tip that has come in so far. If you don’t see any feathers that fit this description, just keep checking back ever few days or so. One will show up eventually. While a lot of bird owners worry about being able to tell if their bird has a blood feather before they trim wings, once you see one, you’ll know not to stress too much about it. They are very easy to identify. It’s worth the trouble to watch your bird for a while until you see one so you can feel confident about handing a blood feather problem. Don’t PanicFor some reason, a broken blood feather has become a huge fear in the minds of may bird owners. The seriousness of the problem is often blown out of proportion. Many times when a bird breaks a pin feather, the blood simply clots. End of drama. If your bird has clotting or liver problems, then there may be more urgency for you to step in and help, but in most cases, you have the luxury of giving your bird a moment to calm down and see if the bleeding stops on its own.When you need to help your bird

Aircraft Wings Handle Stress from All DirectionsStructural failure of a wing isn’t a very common occurrence. As it would immediately lead to a major disaster, you can be assured the manufacturer of the aircraft your flying in has done everything possible to avoid this situation. Metal fatigue would be a leading cause of structural failure. During the process of flight stress, both up and down is applied to the wing. Over a long period of time this repeated movement alters the molecular makeup of the metals or, as is the case with many  modern aircraft, the composite materials used to construct the wing. After some point in time cracks develop and if left unchecked the wing will at some point fail and the aircraft will crash. Of course mandated regular inspections are in place to prevent this from happening and aircraft may have a predetermined length of service determined at the time of design that limits how long an airframe may be used before it reaches the point where metal fatigue may become an issue. Corrosion may cause damage to a wing weakening its structure. Dissimilar metals in contact with each other creates corrosion. Operating in a salt air environment may create corrosion. Electrolysis takes place and the result is corrosion. Another reason for regularly scheduled maintenance and inspections. Impact may cause structural failure, impacting something on the ground, causing unseen damage. We’ve all seen the World War II footage where the bomber on top drops its load with a bomb falling through the wing of the aircraft below. The wing collapses and the plane goes spiraling down. Be it a mid air collision, or a large bird strike at just the right spot. Damage from impact can cause a wing to fail structurally. It is conceivable that an aircraft that is designed with folding wings could have a system failure allowing the wing to collapse from its normal extended position. A definite unrecoverable flight characteristic.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and many people are wondering what they can get their mom this year. A lot of moms enjoy bird watching, and a Mother’s Day gift that encourages this hobby (which an estimated 75 million people enjoy) can be both unique and one that  mom will actually use and appreciate. It may prove better than giving her that goofy greeting card with the syrupy sing-song prose that you would never utter in a million years.In order to determine the right Mother’s Day gift, you need to know how serious your mom is already in bird watching. If your mom just likes to feed the birds in the back yard, you’ll focus on a different gift than if mom belongs to the Audubon Society and is head of the local bird watching chapter.If your mom is a backyard bird watcher, the ideal Mother’s Day gift would be basic supplies. The cost of bird seed has skyrocketed in recent years and a large bag of seed so that mom can feed the cardinals, blue jays and yes, squirrels and chipmunks, in the yard would be a great gift. You can pick up a package of five 7-pound bags of Morning Song Songbird Garden seed at Sam’s Club for $19.36 or you can go to an online site, such as Flat Patio and have a 50-pound bag of top-rate seed which leaves no husks for mom to clean up for a total of $95.28 delivered.Perhaps you would like to give a gift that will last awhile longer than seed. Then bird house feeders and water fountains would make an excellent Mother’s Day gift. Bird house feeders come in all shapes and sizes. If mom is open to unusual looking gifts, this is a great place to start. One idea is to look for feeders made from gourds, which give a distinct shape. You can find local places, even roadhouse stands, that sell these or you can try an online seller. Amish Gourds has a variety for sale and some as cheap as $20.