Recio wrote:Hi Johan,
Could you get a pic of the whole tail feathers?
...
By the way Johan ... you have most of these feathers ... and the skills to properly and quickly perform the experiment ...
Recio, that is the best picture of the tail I have. Unfortunately, more pictures is out of the question, as I stay far away from the owner. And I would be happy to do experiments, although I am thinking that the below quote will require a very exact/precise experimental setup would I might not be able to control to within the correct concentration level.
Recio wrote:Something else;
Twenty minutes ago I rinsed the glass 5 times with tapping water and then I put another feather inside with "just water". Now the feather appears again bleached. This means that extremely low concentration of bleach (hypochlorite of sodium) and/or detergent are enough to destroy/change feather structure. I think that bleach is more likely than detergent to be involved since there was not any foam present in the glass.
Skyes_crew wrote:I wonder...if the experiments prove true...if that could effect feather structure internally over time based on environmental factors such as levels of acid rain, pollution in the air, suitable drinking and bathing water, even the pipes used to run the water. Interesting.....
Very good point! I'm sure all of us have noticed the change in colour of the feather as it ages. Most of us consider that change caused by the sun bleaching the feather. Your suggestion puts a very interesting spin on things.
sheyd wrote:Johan, is it possible to get another picture of that tail- looks like there's smoke or something in the background- maybe causing that effect that we see?
Shey, I can give you my assurance that that picture is a 99% true representation of the tail. The surroundings not so much. It is an artifact of the lens and the light filtering through the tree to the right of the aviary (sun light from right to left), but the focal point is accurately represented. The 'haziness' is a shady area being out of focus. It was actually a hard day for photography, as the sun was very bright, creating excessive contrast with sun/shade.