Birds are so interesting, and many people love spending time trying to observe birds in the wild. You might love spotting different bird species and seeing how they move around.
If you have many birds on your property, then there’s a good chance that you might have seen a bird’s nest at some point in time. You likely know that baby birds don’t have feathers yet since it takes them some time for the feathers to grow.
Is it possible for a bird to fly without feathers? Or is a bird that doesn’t have feathers yet going to be completely incapable of flight?
Read on to learn more about birds and why feathers are so imperative to them. It’ll help you to understand how feathers work and what they do to help birds fly.
Modern Birds Cannot Fly Without Feathers
The first thing to know is that modern birds cannot fly without feathers. The way that birds are requires them to have feathers to be able to stay in the air.
Feathers have an aerodynamic design that allows birds to soar through the air. The feathers give the wings of the bird the surface area that it needs to be able to generate lift and take to the skies.
If the bird only had wings and feathers weren’t present, then it wouldn’t be able to get off of the ground at all. The bird could flap its wings continuously and it still wouldn’t be able to fly without feathers.
Another reason why birds are able to fly is that they have hollow bones. If birds had bones that weren’t hollow, then they would be far too heavy to be able to fly as they do.
Feathers and the light nature of the birds allow them to fly through the skies. That’s why you’ll see that certain types of birds aren’t truly capable of flight.
There are a large number of birds on the planet that are flightless. Ostriches, kiwis, and emus are some of the more well-known examples of flightless birds.
These birds have feathers, but they don’t have the right anatomy to be able to fly. For these birds, feathers exist to protect the skin and keep their bodies warm.
Feathers are imperative for the flight process when you’re talking about normal birds, though, and birds would have to be much different physically to be able to fly without feathers. There are examples of other animals that are capable of flying without feathers, but they do so differently than birds.
Bats Can Fly Without Feathers
One of the best examples that you can point to when looking for a creature that flies without feathers will be modern bats. Bats are capable of flight and they don’t possess any feathers.
The difference between the way that bats fly and how birds fly is apparent when you look at the anatomy of bats. Bats have webbed wings that allow them to have enough surface area to generate lift.
The concept is different than using feathers, but it’s just another way that a creature can be capable of flight. There aren’t any birds that have webbed wings, and this means that birds are completely reliant on the feather method for flight.
Bats aren’t the only creatures that can fly using webbed wings, though. There are also types of flying lizards that use webbed wings to take to the air.
It’s very interesting to see that there are different types of animals on the planet that can fly using different methods. There were also prehistoric creatures who were capable of flight that didn’t have feathers.
For example, you’re likely familiar with the dinosaur known as the pterodactyl. This is a dinosaur that has been brought to life on the silver screen in many movies, and scientists have studied pterodactyl fossils to learn how they were capable of flight.
Pterosaurs are another example of a prehistoric creature that was capable of flight that didn’t rely on feathers. Since these creatures have been extinct for millions of years, scientists are still learning about them and making educated guesses to determine exactly how they flew.
Birds Can Regrow Feathers
You might be looking up information about whether birds can fly without feathers because you’re worried about a bird in your yard. Perhaps a bird lost some of its feathers and isn’t capable of flying right now.
Sometimes people worry about baby birds that have been abandoned as well because they won’t likely survive if they can’t fly. It’s going to be hard to save baby birds that have been abandoned without meticulously caring for them yourself, but it’s good to know that feathers can regrow.
If a mature bird has lost its feathers due to having some type of accident or coming into contact with something that ripped some of its feathers off, then you shouldn’t be too worried. A bird can recover from such a thing, and it will regrow its feathers over time.
Some people have taken care of birds and nursed them back to health. Even if a bird loses its feathers, it’s possible that things will grow back and everything will be able to go back to normal for the bird.
Some Birds Might Die Due to Losing Feathers
Of course, some birds might wind up dying due to losing feathers. If a bird isn’t able to fly, then it’s going to be harder for that bird to get away from predators.
Birds have many natural predators that they need to worry about. When a bird loses its flight capabilities, then it’s going to be tough for that bird to get away from threats moving forward.
Most birds aren’t going to last long enough for the feathers to regrow without help. This is why many people will choose to try to care for injured birds when they wish to see them survive.
However, it might not always be practical to do so, and some birds aren’t going to accept the help of humans easily. Just know that a bird losing its feathers accidentally can lead to a bird losing its life.
Of course, feathers fall out and regrow naturally as well. A bird isn’t going to just lose all of its feathers at once and suddenly become incapable of flight.
It would take an unusual injury or accident for a bird to have enough feathers removed to be incapable of flight. Sometimes this does happen, though, and it can even happen due to traps or deterrents that people use to keep birds at bay.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know more about why birds need feathers, it’s going to be easy to see why they’re important. Birds wouldn’t be able to fly without feathers because their wings wouldn’t be able to generate the lift that is necessary for them to take flight.
Feathers help to provide birds with the proper surface area that is needed to generate lift. Birds need feathers so that they can live the way that they’re supposed to.
Thankfully, if a bird does happen to lose its feathers, they can regrow over time. If you come across a bird that is missing some of its feathers due to being injured in some fashion, then you can rest assured that those feathers will regrow over time.
Hopefully, you feel as though you have a better understanding of how important feathers are to birds now. Birds can’t fly without feathers, but there are ways for creatures to fly without feathers.
Bats and certain types of flying lizards utilize webbed wings to take to the skies, but there are no birds who can fly without feathers. Now that you know this, it’ll be easier to appreciate the immense importance that feathers have to birds.
I have two Associate’s degrees, one in Medical Assisting and the other in Computer Technician, and I am roughly five classes from a bachelor’s degree. Though I never ended up working in the medical field, I have five and a half years of experience in IT. I recently became a stay-at-home mom to my two young boys and also have two dogs and two cats. I grew up with pet dogs, cats, hamsters, budgies, cockatiels, and fish and also love horseback riding. In my spare time, I love to bake and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on.