Feather These barbules have minute hooks called barbicels for cross-attachment. Down feathers are fluffy because they lack barbicels, so the barbules float free of each other, allowing the down to trap air and provide excellent thermal insulation. At the base of the feather, the rachis expands to form the hollow tubular "calamus" (or quill) which inserts into a follicle in the skin. The basal part of the calamus is without vanes. This part is embedded within the skin follicle and has an opening at the base (proximal umbilicus) and a small opening on the side (distal umbilicus). Hatchling birds of some
Bird on a Wire (film) Bird on a Wire (film) Bird on a Wire is a 1990 American action comedy film starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, directed by John Badham, and shot mainly in British Columbia, Canada. The title refers to the Leonard Cohen song "Bird on the Wire". The alley motorcycle chase scene was filmed in Victoria's Chinatown, in Fan Tan Alley. Marianne Graves (Goldie Hawn) is a successful lawyer completing a business deal in Detroit, Michigan. At a gas station, she crosses paths with a man that looks suspiciously like her ex-fiancé, Rick Jarmin (Mel Gibson), who had disappeared 15 years previously