Feathers used like whiskers

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

Just to throw another usage in to the pot.

Follow link for full article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8500000/8500620.stm

Birds may use their feathers for touch, using them to feel their 
surroundings just as cats use their whiskers.

The revelation that feathers have this hitherto unknown function comes 
from research on auklets, birds that sport prominent plumes on their 
heads.

Auklets with bigger crests, that stick out further, bump into things less.

A wider analysis suggests that numerous birds, from parrots, penguins, 
pheasants and hummingbirds, also use their feathers to feel their way.

Details of the discovery are published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Many species of bird sport elegant long feathers, either crests, beards or 
whiskers that adorn the head and face, or striking tail feathers.

Many of these feathers are thought to have a sexual function, being used 
to advertise a bird's virility to potential mates.

But Dr Sampath Seneviratne of the University of British Columbia in 
Vancouver, Canada and Professor Ian Jones of Memorial University in St 
John's, Canada suspect they may also have a tactile function.
[...]