When you think of feathers, you probably think of their ability to repel water. Not so the belly feathers of the male desert sandgrouse. He can visit a watering hole, absorb water into his feathers, fly more than 12 mi (20 km) across the desert, and still have enough water left over to satisfy a nest full of squawking chicks. It's an amazing feat when you consider he can hold about 15% of his body weight in water while flying at speeds of around 40 mph (64 kph). The sandgrouse's water-carrying abilities were first noticed in 1896 by Edmund Meade-Waldo, an ornithologist and conservationist, while he was breeding the birds in captivity. Sadly, when he reported his findings to others, nobody believed him. It wasn't until 1967, when Tom Cade and Gordon MacLean reported their observations of sandgrouses at watering holes in the journal The Condor, that the scientific world took notice.