Feather-Munching Bacteria Damage Wild Bird Plumage
A new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances links feather-degrading bacteria to damaged plumage on wild birds for the first time, offering new insights into how birds’ ecology and behavior might affect their exposure to these little-studied microbes. Scientists know surprisingly little about the diverse community of microbes that lives on bird feathers. A few of these […]