The bird research is mainly about the feather rachis – from the nano to the macro scale. I am one of the supervisors of Chris Laurent’s PhD (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/postgraduate/research_students/cl20g10.page#research), which is looking at the nano scale stuff, using CT scanning and other modern techniques to understand the structure and properties of the keratin that makes up the cortex of the rachis.
In contrast, my work is concerned with the properties of feathers under aerodynamic loading, and I am starting off by examining the structural properties of the complete rachis. Others have done some work on this, but to my knowledge there is no study that approaches the questions from a purely engineering perspective, whilst also examining differences across a wide range of species. That is what we are doing.
Watch this space.