Here is a little puddle of yellow-eyed penguin feathers. Unlike feathers of flying birds they are very short and have a flat stalk in the middle. They lie on top of each other like (fish) scales. The bit closest to the body has down to catch air for insulation and the outer bit is smooth and the bird transfers oil from its gland at the base of the tail to the tip of the feathers to make them waterproof. A yellow-eyed penguin has about 45 000 of these. They are these white ones from the belly, the feathers from the back have black tips, there are really long ones from the tail and really short one from the flippers. We never find yellow ones because the colour has faded out so much by the time they moult that they look white.
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