As part of the feather study, I documented the bristle feathers of each species with some interesting results.
A great article on bristle feathers:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.13188
Abert’s Towhee Bristle Feather
ABTO, Melozone aberti
Abert’s Towhee
Close-up of Abert’s Towhee bristle feathers
Abert’s Towhee bristle feathers
Two types of bristles were found.
Abert’s Towhee bristle feathers
Unbranched bristles on the left, semi-bristle on the right.
Very few unbranched bristles were seen.
Curve-billed Thrasher Bristle Feather
CBTH, Toxostoma curvirostre
Curve-billed Thrasher
Close-up of Curve-billed Thrasher bristles.
Curve-billed Thrasher bristles
Only semi-bristles were found.
Curve-billed Thrasher bristle feather
Ring-necked Pheasant Bristle Feather
RNEP, Phasianus colchicus
Ring-necked Pheasant
There were bristle like feathers found under the eye.
Ring-necked Pheasant bristle feather
These feathers were less than 1/4″ long.
Ring-necked Pheasant bristle feathers
Note the top of each feather looks shaggy.
A look at 300X magnification shows some type of growth reminiscent of a filoplume. The vane was not as delicate as found on a filoplume.
300X bristle feather tip
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