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 (Tim Hardin album) the US. The sessions included Joe Zawinul, Alphonse Mouzon, and Tony Levin, the core of the rhythm section of the band Weather Report. "Bird on a Wire" was re-issued on CD by Sony in 1989 and Sony Japan in 2005. In his review for Allmusic, music critic Bruce Eder wrote "The singing is exquisite, poignant, and powerful and the production is as tasteful and eloquent as any in Hardin's output. This might not be the place to start listening to Tim Hardin (though there are worse places for that as well) in terms of finding out what he was about,