Feather 'Forensics': Feathers Can Tell A Story

Feather Forensics:
     Feathers are amazing products of evolutionary technology.  As we now know, feathers link birds to their dinosaurian ancestors.  Looked at through a magnifying lens, feathers show an interlocking system of barbs that predate Velcro by more than 60 million years.  Seen through DNA analysis, they are revealing surprising relationships.  (eg - Falcons are related to Parrots.)  Analyzed chemically, they can reveal pollutants to which birds have been exposed and feathers can reveal the bird's habitat history.  For the amateur scientist or backyard birder, they also have stories to tell.

Common Raven

Feathers and the Law: 

     Unfortunately many birds became endangered or extinct in the last three hundred years, because their feathers made them the target of the fashion industry, the decorative arts, and collectors.  Among the extinct birds who died for their feathers was the Carolina Parakeet.  Those who were endangered by the feather trade were the Western Grebe, the Laysan Albatross, the Snowy Egret, the Spectacled Eider, the Bald Eagle, and the Common Tern.

     Laws protecting migratory birds and raptors were enacted by Congress to keep more species from going extinct.  These laws prohibit the collecting of feathers of these birds, HOWEVER, you can collect molted feathers or bird kills (window hits, predator kills), if you turn them over to the proper agencies:   natural history museums, wildlife centers under the overview of Fish and Wildlife, and authorized biological studies.  

     In this blog, I will tell you how you can make a legal, fake collection and what this collection can tell you.  

Spotted Towhee

Primary Flight Feathers - left wing

Legal Feather 'Collecting':

     My feather collection consists of facsimiles: my watercolor sketches, photos, computer scans, and photocopies.  The feathers can then be returned to nature or given to the appropriate agency.  Using a color copier is the easiest.  It can give amazing results  I have shown these photocopies to people and one or two thought they were real feathers.

     This kind of 'collecting' follows the American Birding Association's code of ethics, that our actions should not endanger birds, other wildlife, or the natural environment. 

Thayer's Gull

Secondary Flight Feather - Right Wing

What Feathers Can Tell You:

     There is an identification book for feathers, appropriately named Bird Feathers, by S. David Scott and Casey McFarland.  It does not have every North American Species, but a good sampling from each region.  I use it, but also use local experts.

           What does the sampling of feathers below show us?  I watched this tree over a five month period.  The Merlin (falcon), usually a male, consistently brought its prey to this tree, where it would pluck off the flight feathers.  Over the five months, by collecting and identifying the feathers, I was able to discover this Merlin's food sources.  These feathers were found on July 7th.  All  feathers were given to the Merlin Falcon Foundation, as part of the Merlin Project.

(feathers seen clockwise from top)

Merlin Feather, Cedar Waxing Feather, & White-Crowned Sparrow Feathers

all found under the same Sitka Spruce tree

The photo, below, was from a dead Swainson's Thrush in my neighborhood.  I had heard what I thought were Swainson's Thrush calls in the dense tree canopy, but they had not shown themselves.  (Bird watchers know that this bird is very secretive and has a beautiful song.)  The body was a kind of sad confirmation.

Swainson's Thrush

predation kill

found near my house

The photo, below, shows a particular type of predation.  The smaller raptors often clip off the wings and tail of their prey.  The wings and tail contain little of nutritional value and make it harder to carry the prey back to their perch, mate, or young.  If the body is missing and the clipped wings are scattered on the ground this is what you might be seeing. 

Varied Thrush

predation kill

also found in my neighborhood

The picture of the Northern Flicker shows a new feather erupting from its feather sheath.  These feathers are sometimes called blood feathers, because there is arterial flow into the growing feather shaft.  When the feather is fully formed, the blood is withdrawn from the artery and the artery withers.  Pre-fledging juveniles are particularly vulnerable, because all of there new feathers are going through this phase.  If these feathers are broken before they are fully formed the bird is put in jeopardy from blood loss.  It is important that pre-fledge juveniles are not put in danger by our actions.

Northern Flicker

predation kill

found in the Lake City District of Seattle

This was a mature bird regrowing a feather lost to molting.

Colors in feathers are generally produced by pigments or by structure.  The orange-red colors in the Northern Flicker feathers come from carotenes, the same pigment that colors carrots!  The browns and black colors come from melanins, the same pigment that gives us humans our wonderful pigments.  The blues in the wing color bar of the Mallard, below, do not come from pigments.  They are derived from the way the light interacts with the feather, itself.  The same is true for most birds with blue feathers.

Male Mallard Duck

Lake Terrell, Whatcom County

cause of death unknown

If you find a molt feather, note its condition.  Feathers get rough treatment from sun and friction.  They are kept in shape as long as possible by careful preening and the application of oil from the uropygial gland or 'preen gland' found at the rump.  If you see a preening bird sticking its bill at its rump/base of tail, it is getting oil to apply.  This is exactly like you putting on sunscreen.  If you are a duck, this preening keeps you afloat and waterproof.  

     Still, birds like the Red-Tailed Hawk have a rough and tumble life.  Taking down prey, like a mouse or a snake, they flatten their wings and tail against the ground, surrounding their kill.  By the next molt, these feathers often have a raggedy look.   

Red-tailed Hawk

Molted Tail Feather

You can learn a whole lot by observing feathers.  Sometimes bird watching means looking down, not up.