However cliché, there is no denying that the new year symbolizes a new beginning. Winter solstice has passed; short dark nights give way to longer daylight. Trees stand naked, having shed their leaves, buds ready to pop.

And humans look back on the past year, letting go of things that no longer serve us while setting intentions for the year ahead. But we are not the only animals that let go of things in the winter, making space for the new.

While wandering around Malibu Lagoon or the banks of Malibu Creek, I am startled by the vivid contrasting colors of the male ducks. In the past month or so, the males have “let go” of their older plumage in exchange for vibrancy that not only attracts my eye but also the eye of female ducks.

Males, who only a few weeks ago were drab and camouflaged with the brown of fall hillsides, now radiate with sharp reds, whites, blacks and teals in hopes of finding a mate for breeding. As my attention is caught by a bright male among his drabber female companions, I wonder how his transformation occurs.

Photo courtesy of Tasha Di Manzio A ruddy duck Although an amazing adaptation, feathers are not impervious to the trials of life and are often damaged. Because they are not living cells, feathers are unable to repair themselves and, therefore, must be replaced. Molting is the process when new feathers take the place of the old.

Losing feathers

Most birds molt at least once a year, usually during a time when resources are abundant and other activities, such as nesting, breeding or migrating, do not occur. This decreases the energetic demands on the bird.

Depending on the species, molting is highly variable in regard to time of year and how the feathers are lost. In most birds the feathers are not distributed uniformly on the skin, but rather attached to specific skin tracts called pterylae . Exceptions to this are ostriches, penguins and kiwis, whose feathers are attached evenly over their skin.

When molting occurs, birds will usually lose all the feathers in a single tract, but they will not necessarily shed all the tracts at the same time. A complete molt is when all of the feathers are replaced in a short amount of time. Partial molts occur when only a few tracts are replaced during a given time.

The length of time for molting can be anywhere between several weeks and several months. Molting characteristics are dependent on the bird species.

For instance, a penguin will lose all of its feathers within two weeks but only after new feathers have already begun to grow. Eagles, on the other hand, depend on soaring and flight for survival and cannot afford to lose their feathers all at once. Their molting period is gradual. Some primary flight feathers have been known to last up to three years.

Birds dependent on migration may lose all of their feathers just before or just after their long flights. Many birds may experience a partial molt while on the nest, losing their breast feathers so that exposed skin can help warm the eggs.

Eclipse plumage Male ducks experience an unusual molting pattern which results in eclipse plumage. In late summer many male ducks molt into duller colors resembling the females’. During this time they are flightless, as they have shed all of their feathers simultaneously. Soon after this molt is complete, in the late fall and early winter, the males’ plumage changes again, back to their colorful breeding patterns.

Although many birds change plumage for breeding season, male ducks do so earlier, long before other birds begin. This rapid succession of molting in male ducks is essential to survival and progeny.

In late summer their drabber eclipse plumage helps them to hide from predators while they are flightless. But because ducks form pair bonds in the winter, they cannot wait until spring, as many other male birds do, to don their breeding colors. Therefore they wear their eclipse plumage for a short time and then rapidly molt into feathers to attract a mate.

Clearly this strategy works. When walking around the freshwater systems of the Santa Monica Mountains, one can see that the eye-popping patterns of the male ducks are doing their job. A harem of females surrounds the blue bill, black-and-white head and red body of the ruddy duck. The showy black-and-white crest of the hooded merganser brings females flocking. The glowing red head of the redheaded duck is in no way a misnomer; when the sun hits his feathers he shines like a beacon, luring mates.

So, as the male ducks release their drab eclipse plumage to wear their bright colors of the new year, I pause to look under last year’s drab thoughts and wonder what vibrant facets may emerge from this winter.

Meghan Walla-Murphy can be reached at the following e-mail: mwallamurphy@yahoo.com.