flight feather

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flight feather

Any of the comparatively large, stiff feathers of a bird's wing or tail that are necessary for flight.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

flight feather

(Zoology) any of the large stiff feathers that cover the wings and tail of a bird and are adapted for flying

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

flight′ feath`er

one of the large stiff feathers of the wing and tail of a bird that are essential to flight.

[1725–35]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

flight feather - any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird

quill feather, pinion, quill

feather, plumage, plume - the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds

wing - a movable organ for flying (one of a pair)

primary feather, primary quill, primary - one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing

tail feather - feather growing from the tail (uropygium) of a bird

References in periodicals archive ?

Ducks and grebes for instance, shed all their flight feather at once and so actually become totally incapable of flight for several weeks.

Water-based birds take their time in moulting

(c) P6 sixth primary flight feather. TABLE 2--Fisher's linear discriminant function coefficients (b) for assigning loggerhead shrikes of uncertain sex to males or females, on the basis of morphometric and digital image measurements of genetically sexed individuals (n = 54).

Morphometric tools for sexing loggerhead shrikes in California

Consequently, on account of the assumption that the investigation of biomimetic materials inspired by the quiet flying owls might lighten a new way to obtain more excellent muffling performance in addition to the morphological bionic design, we present our study on the viscoelastic characterization of owl flight feather materials and the analysis of their vibration damping ability, so as to provide further insight into the owl's silent flight mechanism and bionic design in our further research in view of material acoustics [18, 19].

Viscoelastic characterization of long-eared owl flight feather shaft and the damping ability analysis

If a large growing contour or flight feather is broken or damaged, it will bleed profusely.

Chapter 14: Avian

We evaluated cloacal swab, vascular pulp of flight feather, and kidney and spleen pool samples from carcasses of members of the family Corvidae as sources of West Nile virus (WNV).

Corvidae feather pulp and West Nile virus detection

Flight feather has a long, stiff shaft that gives the feather extra strength

Fluffy, Fancy, Fantastic : FEATHERS

Item JcUu-2:24 included approximately eight flight feathers (longest flight feather approximately 23 cm) clumped together with mud and dirt.

Identification of ancient feather fragments found in melting alpine ice patches in southern Yukon

Every flight feather has two vanes, one on either side of the main stem.

Why Feathers Are Better

Data recorded for banded birds included: subspecies group identity, wing (chord) length, tail length, body mass, age, sex, fat score, body molt score, flight feather molt score, flight feather wear score, and skull ossification score (in fall).

Molt and body condition of Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers during migration-stopover in Portland, Oregon

However, the rate of feather growth increases only as the one-sixth power of mass, meaning that the time required to replace each feather increases by a factor of about 1.5 for each 10-fold increase in mass, until 56 days are required to replace a single flight feather in a 10-kg bird.

Time taken to shed feathers limits maximum body size in birds

A single "flight feather" from a blue jay is beautiful, with a striking combination of blue, black and white.