[Taxacom] why speculum feathers evolved

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi All,                         The consensus view seems to be that the main reason speculum feathers evolved was to help maintain flock cohesion.  However, if you click on the weblink below, there is a picture of the speculum feathers (from behind) of a duck in flight.  I noticed that the white and black feathers surrounding the blue ones give them a remarkable resemblance to the eye spots on some butterflies.  Therefore, perhaps the speculum feathers could act like huge eye spots which sometimes temporarily startles a predator bird, especially a younger, inexperienced predator that has never seen them before.  That might help explain why there are white and black feathers surrounding the blue feathers.           http://blog.kootenay-lake.ca/?pe81                                                    ---------------Ken Kinman