Those little tufts of feathers projecting ahead of the wing are part of the Alula (latin for winglet), the first digit in a bird’s wing…it’s thumb. Most of the time it lays flat to the rest of the wing but can be extended forward when coming in for a landing or performing maneuvers. Airplanes use a similar technique extending slats on the wing to create little vortices that aid in maintaining lift while decelerating.