#allopreening

[flock-talk]

I understand why some people are scared of birds tbh

[harkthorn]

Coo and Ameri being all cute on a grey wet morning

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Do you think the non avian dinosaurs would have appreciated a good pat or scritches from us humans like some of their fellow birds get to enjoy? I imagine it'd feel esp good for the feathery dinos.

Allopreening is so common in so many birds I wouldn't be surprised. The real problem is that it isn't really observed in Paleognaths, so one could argue it only evolved in Neognaths. But, really, there are places where it's hard to reach, and Paleognaths tend to have longer necks and easier reaches (and the study didn't examine *every* Paleognath, so I would say the jury is still out). So I would say enjoying scritchles is just expected in allopreeners, and it is not impossible some feathered nonavians engaged in it! But even if not, many animals that don't do allopreening behaviors appreciate a good scratch. So, I'm giving you a very strong "probably to maybe" for this one.

[festivalfoxes]

tbh still floating on the high of my partner washing my hair on my birthday two days ago

[howlcraft]

oh oh about cuddly grian i have a thought about avians: can't reach their own back feathers, or parts of the base of their wings, still need to preen them, so it's just. normal to them to have other people - even basically total strangers - touch their backs and the base of their wings. but also because they're adapted to having someone else at least preen them daily they deal REALLY badly with touch starvation and isolation, like, "can stress to death over it" badly

REAL!!! he gets an itch in his wing that he cant reach and he rolls up his sleeves and goes Okay who's it gonna be today. proceeds to tackle the next hermit he sees /affectionate

[findingtarshish]

"You know," Anomaly said, as she extended the claws from her fingers with a snik. "I've always wondered what it's like to fly the way you do. I can float into the sky by altering gravity, but I don’t really know what it feels like to soar.”

Sulaya hummed contentedly as Anomaly gently ran her claws between the feathers. “It’s different. It can feel wonderful, but you’re also at the mercy of the wind. You can be buffeted and battered, but when you come out of the storm, it’s like you’ve become one with the sky.”

“That sounds nice,” Anomaly admitted as her claws reknit the barbules of her partner’s feathers. She allowed herself a smile. “But on the other hand, I don’t have to clean my wings, since they’re largely cosmetic.”

Sulaya giggled. “Well I could do it with magic...” She folded a wing, twisted around, and nuzzled Anomaly’s cheek, forcing the red-eyed woman to stop preening her. “...but it feels better when you do it.”

Anomaly retracted her claws and cradled her girlfriend in her arms. “As long as it’s you, I’m more than happy to.” She leaned down, and their lips met, all thought of feather maintenance forgotten.

[fleshdyke]

opinions?

IT DOES

[corvidaemnit]

every single day I think about how american black vultures are known for engaging in interspecific allopreening (preening between different species)

and they have a specific relationship with crested caracaras, in which the black vultures assist them by not only preening them after meals but also leading them to food in the first place— due to their superior sense of smell— while the caracaras assist the black vultures by acting as a warning signal in case of danger

and while this is more typical of black vultures, this is not common at all for any member of the falconidae family— it’s a special bond!

yet another post in favor of vultures everyone , hope you enjoy:) and I implore you to do some more research on these incredible birds !!

EDIT: I meant interspecific allopreening! excuse my typo!

[sharkieboi]

just watched Sansa eat a scab off my hand wtf girl

[mspaintlover]

preening eachothers f. feathers bbgg BFBFET FGG FGGGG !????? GBFBEHDFGGFHKBKMHHBBBBBBBBBBBB ??????????

[flock-talk]

I aspire to get as many head massages in a day as Toto gets

[harkthorn]

Ohtori hassling Steve for preening-usually by simply walking up and into him until Steve gives in. Here there was a bit of a standoff but 'Tori won eventually (and he never returns the favour)

[paused-waterfall]

Little Details of Feather Preening

I love reading fics in which a character with feathers gets help preening them from another character. I think part of it is because it explores the alienness of the winged/feathered character in a grounded, tactile way, while also exploring the dynamic between two characters. It's worldbuilding and character development all rolled into one! But another huge reason why I like it is just cause my parakeet sometimes lets me help with her feathers, and it's the best experience ever omfg.

I figured, for the sake of fic writers who don't have access to the cutest most patient bird in the world (and for me, who feels like rambling) I'd vomit out a ton of little details of what it's like to help a bird preen, and how it might translate to characters with both human and bird features:

(Note, this isn't exactly researched. My sample size is literally one bird and some casual reading about other species (sounds like crow feathers work similarly to parakeets, for instance: https://urbannature.blog/2022/09/23/the-unbearable-itchiness-of-moulting/). Please take this as an account of what preening a bird is like, and not as advice for things to do to a real bird.)

The exact term for preening something other than oneself is "allopreening". It's a social behavior and not all species do it. But if you're writing about a bird-human hybrid, ehhh humans have grooming instincts to add to the mix, so IMO the species of bird shouldn't hold you back!

Allopreening is most needed on areas the bird can't access themself. Wings and tails are mostly accessible-- the long feathers can be gently bent into reach. The back of the head/neck is the most prime location for allopreening. A humanoid trying to preen on their own would probably try to use a mirror to see what they're doing, and seriously tire out their arms reaching back there to do such finicky work.

Birds are pretty good at spinning their heads to see and work on anything below their necks, but an avian-ish character without that range of motion might need more help on the base of their wings, shoulders, and back.

My bird gets pissed when I so much as touch any feathers that are critical to flight (the longest wing and tail feathers). Care for those feathers is super important, and trusting someone else with that task would be a huge deal!

To request a preening, my bird angles her head at me, shakes it, and gently poofs up her feathers. If it's going well, she'll stay poofed up and maybe close her eyes.

A completed preening session always ends with feathers being shaken out.

Molting!

Often, the first sign of an impending molt is a fluffy down feather floating in the air. These feathers will cling to anything they touch.

The start of molting involves a lot of old feathers falling out, and some chill allopreening can be involved in this. Just lightly ruffling their feathers can help dislodge ones that are ready to go.

After getting rid of the old feathers, pin feathers start to grow in. They start out covered in a waxy sheath and with a blood supply running through them. While the blood supply is there, these are also called blood feathers, and damaging them can cause a lot of bleeding.

Pin/blood feathers are very sensitive. A wrong move can cause them to poke into the skin. Add this to the general vulnerability of not being at peak flight ability and the body's exhaustion at having to produce the feathers, and you've got an irritable and skittish bird. This is all a whole lot like a feathery version of a period.

Allopreening pin feathers is a lot more delicate than helping dislodge old ones. There's a careful art involved in telling which ones are ready to have their sheaths removed. Learning this art as a non-feather-haver involved, for me, a lot of sudden nipping from an unsatisfied customer. These days, I can tell I'm working on the wrong feather if my bird tenses up or glares at me.

Removing the sheath from a feather is SO SATISFYING. You take a dull-colored, irritating pin, and gently unwrap it to reveal a soft, beautiful new feather. Any time I see my bird all disheveled by pin feathers, it takes serious willpower to resist pestering her to let me fix them.

Non-molt preening!

Fully grown feathers also need daily upkeep

Birds secrete oils that they spread over their feathers with their beaks. A bird-person or their allopreening partner might choose to work other oils into the feathers, similar to how we use skincare products.

Feathers lost outside of the molting cycle can start regrowing immediately. However, a partially damaged feather will not regrow until it is removed or falls out during a molt.

Clipped wings are essentially damaged feathers-- an intelligent bird-person might be inclined to rip these out so that new, full feathers will be faster to grow... but, that would mean going without the partial feathers, and the gliding/slight lift they allow. That's a pretty big risk!

Hope someone gets some use out of this :) Happy bird-fic'ing!

[kedreeva]

outside preening and train displays for breeding season do peafowl show affection and bond with each other in any ways unique to them? do they ever engage in play or other activities?

They actually don't do a lot of preening each other, most of it is preening themselves in the same location. They inspect each others faces, and parasite pick (or sometimes pick loose feathers), but they don't do allopreening like parrots or some other birds do.

They don't have a lot of bonding activities, beyond just... hanging out. They loaf together, they walk around together, they talk to each other. Hens, even when they don't have babies, will sometimes pick up a "treat" and do the "good treat!!!!" call while holding it near the ground, until one of the other hens comes to get it.

The coolest thing they do for bonding is what I call playing chase. They have a stance where their chest comes down, butt comes up (but not "display" up, just raised), and their wings fold out slightly. It looks remarkably like a dog slapping their paws down into "play with me" stance, and it's much the same message- "Let's play!" They will hop/flutter in this stance, and then go bouncing and hopping around, and anyone nearby may join in chasing them or being chased. This tends to happen more when they're young, before sexual maturity, but the older hens do it when they have a close friend or two. I still see Eris and Artemis and Stella and Aris and Arcana, and OCCASIONALLY Stan doing it, just not as often/readily as the babies will do it (they do it almost every morning when I let them out of the coops and they are overcome with excitement about it).

I got a quick free-range game of it on film once!

That's Corona up front... she never plays. She's the most Serious bird I own. But you can see how they are bouncing and have their wings out and loose, and their brother comes RACING over to join them, and they both bounce up really high and dramatically when they see him, but they aren't flying away, they're circling around to him.

And here's the difference in another gif- when Stella's sister (right side, brown lady) comes running over, Stella thinks she's instigating play, so she starts bouncing and running to her brother, but he doesn't want to play right now, so he doesn't engage.

here's baby artemis engaged in chase with me, coming to chase me lol

I have a few videos somewhere of my hand-raised babies playing chase with me. I want to get more videos of the outdoors ones playing, but it's so random and I don't have time to get my camera out, so it's like... if they do it while I already have my camera out and running in video. But it's my favorite thing they do, they look so silly.

They also will pick up and drop/throw around shed feathers, but I'm not sure if that's "play" behavior so much as "food testing" behavior. But, Beep had a bunch of cat toys, some of which she probably COULD have eaten (like her bluejay), but she would just pick them up and shake them/throw them, which is much the same as they do with feathers or small sticks.

Again, I don't know that I would classify it as play, and it may not be unique to them, but it is an interesting activity.

Last one I can think of off the top of my head is climbing things. They love jumping up and around on things. Games of chase that can include Being High Up are the best games. Corona, as serious as she is, still gets very happy to jump up and down on stuff. I think if I installed a fowl swing in her enclosure, she'd use it.

I'm sure there are others neat behaviors, but those are the first few I thought of.

[l3viat8an]

wing preening is, surprisingly, NOT relaxing for birds, its actually pretty exciting for birds n managing to get rid of a loose feather is the equivalent of scratching a hard to reach itch, theres also the fact that being relaxed while being groomed is more of a mammalian trait than an avain trait

im only bringing this up cause ive been thinking about grooming lucifer’s wings during molting season n the more bird part of his brain making him get excited for it <3

~ t4t anon

I knew this actually! Birds are so cool ‘n I read a ton about them lol

But even better!! The bird half of Lucifer’s brain desperately needs wants you to help with his wings. and when you help with his wings Lucifer will try to preen you, one way or another.

Maybe fixing your hair or tying it up. Anything that’ll feel like preening to his more animalistic side.

Just an idea cuz paired birds will preen one another; this is called ‘allopreening,’ which not only helps keep the birds tidy, but reinforces their bonds. ‘n I think Lucifer’s bird brain lol would like that idea.