I Can’t Sleep - Down Feathers | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: September 19, 2019

Unwind with calm bedtime reading about down feathers to ease insomnia and sleepless nights. This soothing episode explores the soft plumage that insulates birds and has long been used by humans for warmth and comfort. Benjamin’s peaceful cadence turns biology and natural history into a relaxing journey, helping you learn while settling into rest. There’s no whispering or hypnosis—just calm, fact-filled storytelling to quiet the mind, reduce stress, and invite sleep. Press play, let the softness of down feathers guide your thoughts, and drift off. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Down Feather, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Down Feather. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Down Feather.

The Down of Birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder Down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding, duvets. pillows and sleeping bags. The discovery of feathers trapped in ancient amber suggests that some species of dinosaur may have possessed down-like feathers. The word down comes from the Old Norse word dun,

which had the same meaning as its modern equivalent. The down feather is considered to be the most straightforward of all feather types. It has a short or vestigial ruckus shaft. few barbs and barbules that lack hooks. There are three types of down, natal down, body down, and powder down. Natal down is the layer of down feathers that cover most birds at some point in their early development.

Prokotial nestlings are already covered with a layer of down when they hatch, while altricial nestlings develop their down layer within days or weeks of hatching. Megapode hatchlings are the sole exceptions. They are already covered with contour feathers when they hatch. Body Down is a layer of small, fluffy feathers that lie underneath the outer contour feathers on a bird's body. Powder Down, or Pova Plumes, is a special type of down that occurs in a few groups of apparently unrelated birds. In some species, the tips of the barbules on powder-down feather disintegrate, forming fine particles of keratin, which appear as a powder or feather dust among the feathers.

These feathers grow continuously and are not molted. In other species, powder grains come from cells that surround the barbules of growing feathers. These specialized feathers are typically scattered among the ones. ordinary down feathers, though in some species they occur in clusters. All parrots have powder down, with some species, including the mealy amazons, producing copious amounts. It is also found in tinnomous and herons. The dust produced from powder down feathers is a known allergen in humans. The loose structure of down feathers traps air, which helps to insulate the bird against heat loss and contributes to the buoyancy of waterbeds.

Species that experience annual temperature fluctuations typically have more down feathers following their autumn mold. There is some evidence that down feathers may also help to decrease the incidence of nesting cannibalism among some colonially nesting species, as the stiffness of the feathers make the young more difficult to swallow. Pollutants can reduce the efficiency of these functions. When oiled, for example, down feathers mat and clump together, which breaks down the bird's insulation and allows water to reach the skin. Female wildfowl used down feathers plucked from their own breasts to line their scrape nests. This process performs the dual function of helping to insulate the eggs and exposing the female's brood pouch, an area of bears' skin,

rich in blood vessels, which transmits heat very efficiently. Of the various items birds used to line their nests, Down feathers provide the most effective insulation, though only when dry. Wet Down is the least effective insulator. Down may also help camouflage the eggs when the female is away from the nest, particularly as the birds often draw the feathers over their eggs before leaving. Because a bird can eliminate heavy metals in its feathers,

and because feathers can be collected non-invasively and stored indefinitely. Down feathers can be used to check for evidence of metal contamination in the bird's environment. Studies have shown a high level of correlation between the level of metal contamination in a bird's diet and the level found in its feathers. With the proportion of the chemicals found in its feathers, remaining relatively constant and relatively high for some metals, mutations in the genes that control the formation of down feathers have been recorded in a German white leghorn flock.

Although the elements of a normal down feather are present, a hypercaratosis of the feather's horny sheath after 16 to 17 days of incubation, results in the sheath not splitting as it should during the final stages of the feather's growth. Because of that abnormal splitting, the bird's down appears to be matted, Chicks with this condition look bristly and singed and tend to be lighter in body weight than normal chicks are. Down feathers were used by indigenous North Americans for religious ceremonies and as powerful symbols.

In the stories of some cultures, the down feathers of an eagle were important gifts given by the bird to the story's hero. In the ghost dance, a religious movement that became particularly widespread among the plains Indians, each dancer held a painted feather that was tipped with a down feather painted with another color. The feathers were generally those of a crow, which was sacred to the ghost dance, or an eagle, which was sacred to all tribes. Zuni prayer sticks were also made using eagle down. while eagle feathers belonged to the sun priest who planted them to the sun, other priests could use them if rain was needed, as the down is said to suggest fleecy clouds that gather on the horizon before rain.

The Hopi rubbed eagle down feathers over rattlesnakes being collected for their snake dances in an effort to soothe and calm the reptiles. For centuries, humans across the globe have used down feathers for insulation, Russian documents from the 1600s list bird down among the goods sold to Dutch merchants. And communities in northern Norway began protecting the nests of Ider ducks as early as 1890. Iters are still farmed by people in Iceland, Scandinavia, and Siberia. The birds are provided with nest sites and protected from predators, and down is collected intermittently during the nesting season without harming the nests or female ducks.

The first collection is made roughly halfway through the incubation period when some 0.75 ounces of high quality down is removed per nest. When the eggs have hatched and the young have left the area, the remaining down and breast feathers are gathered, typically resulting in another 0.75 ounces of lower quality feathers per nest. In general, 50 to 60 nests will produce about 1 kilogram of down feathers. This means that only a few thousand pounds of Iderdown is collected from wild nests each year. Approximately 70% of that harvest is from Iceland. In Iceland and Scandinavia, colonies of more than 5,000 birds sometimes develop in farmed areas.

While in some protected areas of the Navoya-Zimloya archipelago nest, densities exceed 13,000 per hectare. On the other hand, more nomadic indigenous peoples of Archeplago, candidate did not see down production as a reasonable source of income, and tended to over-expload idar nests with indifferent collection of down feathers from the nests. Although the down feathers of various species of wildfowl, gulls, and other seabirds have historically been used for insulation, most now come from domestic geese. Some 70% of the world's supply comes from China, typically from birds killed for their meat. Most of the The rest comes from Europe and Canada from birds harvested for meat or pete.

In the United States, federal trade commission regulations require that any product labeled 100% down must contain only down feathers, while products labeled simply down can contain a mixture of fiber and feathers. In addition, products labeled as goose down must contain at least 90% goose down, 10% goose feathers. Down insulation is rated by fill power, which is the number of cubic inches displaced by a given ounce of down. To measure fill power, an ounce of down is placed into a graduated cylinder and a small weight is dropped in on top of it. The volume below the weight indicates the fill power. Heider down has the highest fill power at 1,200. However, even down with a fill power as low as 550 still provides reasonably good.

good insulation. Higher fill power downs will thus insulate better than lower fill power downs of the same weight. Insulation in most outdoor equipment ranges from about 400 to 900 cubed inches per ounce. Downrated 500 to 650 cubed inches per ounce is warm enough and light enough for most conditions, and 800 to 900 cubed inches per ounce fill is used for very lightweight and or very cold weather gear. Down is warm, lightweight, and packable. If well cared for, it retains its loft up to three times longer than do most synthetics. However, when it is wet, the thermal properties of Down are virtually eliminated. Down forms clumps have exposed to dampness or moisture, and will mildew if left damp. In addition, it will absorb and retain odors. Down feathers tend to

become more allergenic as they age, as they become contaminated with molds and dust mites. Pillows provide the most common source of exposure, though mattresses, comforters, outerwear, and upholstery can also cause problems. A Finnish study has shown that true feather allergies are rare, with most issues caused by dust mites. Feathers found in amber in western France, Canada and northeastern China suggests that some non-avian dinosaurs may have had primitive down-like feathers.

Types of down. Duck down. Ider Down. This is considered to be the ultimate in duck down. It is collected from the breast feathers of the female Ider duck and has the largest duck-down clusters. Goose-down.

Polish-Hungarian goose down. Widely considered to be the finest quality down-cluster. They are larger than the norm and are mostly pure white in color. Feather-down combinations. Down compacts with age and is not appropriate for some applications. Most down-filled pillow forms are stuffed with a combination of down and feathers. The presence of feathers adds weight, stability, and bulk. Therefore, a mixture with more down will be lighter and fluffier than a pillow.

with a higher feather ratio. Marabo, historically spelled with the T, is down from the Marabo stork, although turkey down is used as a substitute. It is widely used as a fashion trimming, and in fly tying.