More feathers for ID

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Wow that is a hard one (unlike most feather ID requests). The most obvious thing is that these are all feathers that have not been naturally moulted. They have all been cut at the base. If you found them in the bush like that, as a single collection, it means they have been cut off the bird with scissors or a knife or more likely by the sharp teeth of a predator, like a fox or cat (I'm not sure if hawks would do feather damage like that). They are also very damaged, which also suggests a victim of predation. I also think from the dark bases that they are not fully mature feathers (still growing), so probably of a young bird. The colour is really unusual and they are all the same colour which suggests either a monotone bird or that it is just from the one area that a predator has plucked. I can't think of a match to any native bird and surely not a hobby. Sure the basic colour is similar but these have no sign of mottled pattern. Maybe the colour matches a juvenile Golden Whistler but somehow I can't see these as small enough for that to be a possibility. I don't think they are breast feathers of anything, because they are all stiff and narrow, rather than soft looking and rounded. I think from their shape they are all or mostly, inner secondary of a bird that shows a dark brown to rich Rufous on the upper side of the wing to pale almost whitish underneath. They look very unspecialised feathers of a weak flier. I strongly suspect they are from a chicken or maybe from a juvenile peafowl. If I am wrong about the shape due to the damage, my next best guess is a brown feral pigeon. Sorry even with a key in the photo and not being fully sure what part of the bird it comes from I find it hard to interpret the size.  

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Leggoe [
Sent: Sunday, 15 February 2015 12:08 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] More feathers for ID

Dear COGs,

I saw these feathers on Callum Brae (Zoo Corner) this morning.  Have no idea what bird they are from.  Colour-wise, they look about the same as the breast feathers of a hobby, but are they all breast feathers?  There is no suggestion of banding on any of them.

Would appreciate any help with this puzzle (for me).

 

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While on the subject of Zoo Corner, I was very happy to find the small birds returning to the location after so much undergrowth was cleared away 2-3 years ago. 

White-throated gerygone,

Weebill,

Grey fantail

Superb fairy-wren,

Yellow-rumped thornbill,

and a small bird with a “zitting” sound, possibly a striated thornbill or scrubwren, or hopefully, speckled warblers, but somehow the sound wasn’t quite like theirs.

Across the fence in the zoo grounds a corella pair were looking very domestic in a nicely smoothed tree hollow.

Three yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew over and went somewhere.

Well worth visiting.

Leaf curl spiders are hanging from practically every dead or living sapling.

 

Margaret Leggoe