Hobbies And Interests
Bird Feathers
The feathers of many birds are adapted for the activities birds engage in every day. For example, the feathers of owls help these birds to hunt at night by muffling the sounds the owls make. Fine feathers, known as down, cover parts of the bird's wings to lessen the noise the wings make as they beat in the air, while the clustered feathers on an owl's face function as a sound trap. Peregrine falcons, meanwhile, possess black feathers over their faces, which help to obscure the light from below them by absorbing it. Thus, the peregrine falcon is better able to hunt as it can notice the movement of prey on the ground.
Bird Beaks
Bird beaks and bills vary tremendously between one species and the next, but as well as helping to characterize each bird, these features are adapted to the lifestyle each species leads. For instance, if a bird has a pointed beak, as a warbler does, it's likely it'll use this to grab at insects found on trees. Mergansers and other birds that feast on fish have sharpened ends to their beaks, which give them a steady hold when they pluck a fish from a river. Mallards and other water-dwelling birds use their specially adapted bills to strain their food from the water from which they take it.
Butterfly Mouthparts
Butterflies have lapping mouthparts, which means that their mouthparts feature a long, thin appendage used much like a drinking straw. Butterflies have developed this because they drink the nectar from flowers, and thus need a method of obtaining the nectar from the depths of the flower itself. When a butterfly approaches a flower, it rolls out its mouthparts, which until that point are tucked away under its head.
Mimicry
Butterflies have to try to avoid the attention of predators that'll eat them, and one way they have specially adapted to do this is to use mimicry to trick their enemies. Unlike camouflage, in which the animal blends in with its surroundings, mimicry allows the butterfly to copy the look of other butterflies that have negative associations for predators. For example, a butterfly might change its patterns to those of a breed called the Monarch, which isn't pleasant to eat, so that predators stay away.