Crest (feathers)
prominent feature exhibited by several bird and dinosaur species on their heads
The crest is a prominent feature exhibited by several bird species on their heads. It is distinct from features such as casques and cockscombs - sometimes erroneously referred to as "crests", which are bony and fleshy structures respectively.
The crest is made up of semiplume feathers: a long rachis with barbs on either side. These are plumulaceous feathers, meaning that they are soft and bendable. In birds, these semiplumes are common along the head, neck, and upper back, and may be used for buoyancy and sensing vibrations.
Crests on birds are generally used for display purposes. Cockatoos (a family that also includes corellas and the cockatiel) are part of the parrot family Cacatuidae found in Australia, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Philippines, and are probably the most recognizable birds to feature crests. Cockatoos and cockatiels possess crests which may be raised or lowered at will. Their crests are used to communicate with fellow members of their species, or as a form of defense to frighten away other species that approach too closely, making the bird appear larger when the crest is suddenly and unexpectedly raised.
Crests can be recumbent or recursive, depending on the species.
“Crest (feathers)” enters the record as prominent feature exhibited by several bird and dinosaur species on their heads. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Crest, feathers and prominent can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1589150. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Crest (feathers)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.