I found this messed up feather in Alice's room this morning. She has plucked it before it was finished growing, so a new feather will grow in in its place.
I suspect this is the feather that was bleeding a few weeks ago, due to the gob of stuff at the pinched part of the shaft. And notice that the vane of the feather below the pinch is broken off straight across at that point. This is called a fault bar or a stress mark. It indicates some kind of stress (food or otherwise) or injury. Sometimes fault bars are simply a weak point in the vane of the feather and sometimes they break, as they did here.
Apparently Alice decided this feather wasn't good enough so she plucked it. This will trigger a new feather to grow in its place, which hopefully will be perfectly normal.
Ain't it amazing how nature works?
Hi Karla! One thing I've found with the raptors and other birds, no matter how much we learn there is always more. Thank you, Nora
ReplyDeleteYes, the more we discover, the more we realize we don't know.
ReplyDeleteHi,I have been reading some of your past posts and am wondering where I can see some of the pictures. Like the one of the owl that was in the chicken coop (2004),etc. Your stories are so vivid, but seeing the pictures would be great as well. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeletem russell
Good point...I realize that all of the "old blog" photos were hosted on my personal website, so are no longer connected with the posts. I've added a few photos to the older posts, but it will take several sessions of sitting and digging through photos to get them all linked back to their articles. If you have some photos in particular you'd like to see, let me know and I'll work on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, but you know what, I found some of them on Google images. I typed in Alice's name etc, and they came up. The only one that I couldn't find was the one of the feathers. I would like to see that sometime, but you could do that with any of the feathers that you have. Just curious, really. I know how very busy you are, so please don't worry about it. Still loving the posts that you have here. I am reading from 2004 and reading up to the present. Great stuff!
ReplyDeletem russell
Amazing what stays on the internet! I posted the feather photos on the blog so you can see them now. Let me know if there are others you'd like to see and can't find.
DeleteHey, what a great surprise to find these pictures this morning, just gorgeous. I am going to share all of this with my 'bird crazy' friends!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks,
M
Love the feather pictures. I find feathers that are similar in our woods from time to time. Happy to see they really are owl feathers. Thanks.
ReplyDelete