Feather Fest News & Feather Fact #3

Feather Fest News from Parc des Rapides & Feather Fact #3

Parc des Rapides in Lasalle, closed for several months due to very high water levels and flooding, will be fully reopened in time for BPQ’s Feather Fest which takes place on Saturday, September 23rd. This is great news for the event since all of the park ‘s prime birding habitat will once again be accessible to the public.

As we count down the days to Feather Fest, today’s Feather Fact is inspired by the rather soggy and wet Blue Heron in the image above, photographed at Parc des Rapides during a BPQ field trip.

Daily Feather Fact #3

A small group of bird families ( herons, parrots, tinamous, and bustards) have powder down feathers. These unique feathers never molt but instead grow continuously and release a powdery substance when the tip is broken off . The powder acts as a waterproofing agent and feather conditioner when the bird spreads the substance through its body feathers.

Read more about the Great Blue Heron and how it uses powder down and other interesting heron facts in this previous blog post and in another one about wading birds here.

Download the Feather Fest Flyer for event details.

Bonus Boreal Bird Fact

Did you know?

An estimated 7% of North America’s population of Great Blue Herons breed within the Boreal Forest. This adds it to the list of over 325 species of birds that depend on this vast forest for stopover or breeding habitat. Visit the Boreal Songbird Initiative website for more about boreal birds.