How many feathers?
Birds have a lot of feathers, more than you might expect. The exact number depends on the bird. Not surprising, smaller birds have fewer feathers than larger one. A large swan, for example, has over 24,000 feathers, mostly on the head and neck, while a tiny hummingbird has 900-1000 individual feathers.
A 1000 feathers seems an incredible number for a bird that only weighs 1/8 of an ounce. That quantity of feathers illustrates how important they are to birds.
“Light as a Feather” is important rule especially when any excess weight requires added energy for flight. For most birds, feathers represent 15-20% of its total weight, whereas, the bird’s skeleton weighs less than one half the weight of its feathers.
If you have ever the opportunity to hand feed a chickadee you understand just how light they are. All you feel is a gentle pinch from their toenails. There is no sense of weight at all. It seems more like a puff of air.
I use the postal analogy to illustrate the lightness of feathers. For the cost of a single first class postage stamp you can mail 2-3 chickadees to anywhere in the country. Each birds weighs about the same as a single sheet of paper.
Light as a feather. Or as light as thousands of feathers
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