fudisi-space-spinster:

falseredstart:

This is a ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) . Images like this are frequently passed around the internet as “round borbs”, “birb”, or “smol friend”. 

However, it is incredibly import to remember: your smol friend is a dirty liar.

How does this wizardry work? The magic is all in ptiloerection, or contracting special muscles that raise and lower feathers. The majority of a bird’s body is actually completely bare of feathers– instead, feathers grow from special tracts (or pterylae). 

Thanks to the feather erector ptili muscles, these feathers are strategically arranged across the body for thermoregulation and communication. Some feathers are specially adapted for tactile sensory input, too! They can help a bird find prey, or detect air current shifts to alter wing angles for flight efficiency.

Still a birb

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