Editing Plumage (section)

{{Short description|Layer of feathers that covers a bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
[[File:Plumage house sparrow.jpg|thumb|300px|Close-up view of the plumage on a [[house sparrow]]]]
[[File:Guiraca caeruleaAAP086CB.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The differences in plumage of a [[blue grosbeak]], from top to bottom, between a breeding male (alternate plumage), a non-breeding male (basic plumage), a female, and the related [[indigo bunting]]]]

'''Plumage''' ({{etymology|la|{{Wikt-lang|la|pluma}}|feather}}) is a layer of [[feather]]s that covers a [[bird]] and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between [[species]] and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can be different colour [[morph (zoology)|morph]]s. The placement of feathers on a bird is not haphazard but rather emerges in organized, overlapping rows and groups, and these {{glossary link|glossary=Glossary of bird terms|pterylae|feather tracts}} are known by standardized names.<ref name="vini">{{cite book|last1=Vinicombe |first1=Keith |last2=Harris |first2=Alan |last3=Tucker |first3=Laurel |title=The Helm guide to bird identification: an in-depth look at confusion species |date=2014 |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |isbn=9781408130353 |page=14 }}</ref><ref name="fos">{{cite web|last1=Foster|first1=Dr. Rory|last2=Smith|first2=Dr. Marty|title=Bird Feather Types, Anatomy, Growth, Color, and Molting|url=http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15+1829&aid=2776|website=Veterinary & Aquatic Services Department|publisher=peteducation.com|access-date=10 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209104950/http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15+1829&aid=2776|archive-date=9 February 2017}}</ref>

Most birds [[moult]] twice a year, resulting in a breeding or ''nuptial plumage'' and a ''basic plumage''. Many [[duck]]s and some other species such as the [[red junglefowl]] have males wearing a bright nuptial plumage while breeding and a drab ''eclipse plumage'' for some months afterward.  The [[painted bunting]]'s juveniles have two inserted moults in their first autumn, each yielding plumage like an adult female.  The first starts a few days after fledging replacing the ''juvenile plumage'' with an ''auxiliary formative plumage''; the second a month or so later giving the ''formative plumage''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/398/articles/introduction|title=Painted Bunting – Introduction – Birds of North America Online|website=bna.birds.cornell.edu|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805005922/http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/398/articles/introduction|archive-date=5 August 2016}}</ref>

Abnormal plumages include a variety of conditions. [[Albinism]], total loss of colour, is rare, but partial loss of colours is more common. Some species are colour [[polymorphism (biology)|polymorphic]], having two or more colour variants.  A few species have special types of polymorphism, as in the male [[Ruff (bird)|ruff]] which has an assortment of different colours around the head and neck in the breeding season only.

[[Hen feathering in cocks|Hen feathering]] is an inherited plumage character in [[Gallus gallus domesticus|domestic fowl]] controlled by a single gene. ''[[Plumology]]'' (or ''plumage science'') is the name for the science that is associated with the study of feathers.<ref name=GalaPlum>{{cite web|title=Galapagos plumology|url=http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/galapagos-research/article/galapagos-plumology/|website=darwinfoundation.org|publisher=Charles Darwin Collections Database by the Charles Darwin Foundation|access-date=24 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317093057/http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/media/pdf/59/NG_59_1998_Harpp%26Geist_Galapagos_plumology.pdf|archive-date=17 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=LangsFWPlumology>{{cite book|last1=Eichhorn|first1=hrsg. von Manfred|title=Langenscheidt Fachwörterbuch Biologie Englisch : englisch – deutsch, deutsch – englisch|date=2005|publisher=Langenscheidt|location=Berlin [u.a.]|isbn=3861172283|page=537|edition=1. Aufl.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRJfNmHhIpUC&q=Plumology&pg=PA537|access-date=24 April 2015}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="iridescence">{{Citation| last = Li| first = Quanguo| title = Reconstruction of ''Microraptor'' and the Evolution of Iridescent Plumage| journal = Science| volume = 335| issue = 6073| pages = 1215–1219| date = 9 March 2012| doi = 10.1126/science.1213780| pmid=22403389| bibcode = 2012Sci...335.1215L| s2cid = 206537426}}</ref>