austroraptor feathers ?

[fason]

today while walking around I found what I believe to be a heron feather , after washing it I realized  it was waterproof  unlike my other pigeon feathers , that got me thinking , would fishing raptors like austroraptor have  similar features ?

[fason]

also could you use imprints of raptor feathers to determine if they were water dwelling raptors and learn more about their behavior .

[Newt]

That's an interesting question! But very difficult to answer.

First, how sure are you that Austroraptor was a fisher?

Different groups of living swimming and wading birds use different methods for waterproofing their feathers. Ducks and penguins use oil from a gland near the tail base. Herons use special "powder down" feathers that crumble into an oily powder. Anhingas and cormorants don't have waterproof feathers at all. Whether oil glands or powder down would have been present in dromaeosauroids, I don't know. Because waterproofing feathers relies on coating them with oil or powder, a fossil feather impression would probably not tell you much.

The next question is: did Austroraptor have any need for waterproof feathers? The main function of waterproofing is to maintain the air layer trapped beneath the feathers, aiding with insulation and flight. Austroraptor was flightless, so that's out; did it live in a cool enough environment that it would need extra protection?

[fason]

I had heard that it would have fished because of its snout  shape ,  i am no expert though so really I don't know.                                                  I guess I never took into account the fossilization process  , the feather was odd and would retake its form even after each filament was tampered with , so I though there were some visual differences too  , thanks for the information on the waterproofing on feathers though .                           I just guessed it would need waterproof feathers as after being in the water I thought  it would bog it down  , making it  very heavy .

I think I got my answer though , thank you

[fason]

sorry , the  text messed up 

[Dinoguy2]

There are non-neornithean feathers in amber from Canada which show evidence of waterproofing. We don't know what kind of dinosaurs they come from but it shows at least some Mesozoic species did have waterproof feathers without the aid of oils. This seems like something that could easily evolve multiple times in multiple lineages.

[fason]

interesting , thanks