For many bird species, there are few turn-ons bigger than long tails.Think peacocks, lyre birds and quetzals. Then there is the Jamaican red-billed streamertail hubba-hubba hummingbird (photo, left).
But aren't long tails literally a drag?To find out, biologists outfitted short-tailed Anna's hummingbirds with long tail feathers from a red-billed streamertail, giving the Anna's two tail feathers that were five times the normal length, and put them in a wind tunnel.
this post reminds me of an amazing documentary by david attenborough called attenborough in paradise. fascinating coverage of birds i had no idea existed.
ReplyDeleteJust FWIW, these are called "doctor birds" by Jamaicans. Don't ask me why. It is the symbol on the Air Jamaica planes. They really are quite beautiful.
ReplyDelete