Excellent - thank you Philip.
I am really impressed by your ability to identify by the feathers you come
across.
cheers
Mauro
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip A. Veerman
Sent: Sunday, 24 June 2001 10:37 PM
To: Maurovic, Mauro (DHS); birding aus
Subject: Feathers and the LAW .
I am answering Mauro in a generalist way. I'm sure there are exceptions to
this comment:
Mostly feathers (other than just down or tiny feathers), can be identified
if there are several from one bird or some other clue e.g. habitat, by
colour pattern, in combination with shape and size. Texture can be helpful,
feathers from owls are immediately recognizable as they are soft. Shape and
size will indicate broad possibilities of the size range of the bird and
what part of the bird it is from, eg. you can immediately tell a left
primary from a right primary or a tail feather, regardless of what species
or colour pattern it is (ratites and penguins etc. excluded). Knowing which
feather it is you have ie. anatomically, can then lead you to matching the
colour pattern to likely suspects. Sometimes it is tricky and you need to
consult references or specimens. Often even isolated feathers are obvious as
to what part of what species they are. I can identify most of the feathers I
come across (other than just down or tiny feathers) often to species or to
broader levels eg. it would be hard to separate isolated feathers of
Lichenostomus honeyeaters or many seabirds which are not very colourful. The
reason I say several from one bird, is if you have feathers from different
parts of a bird, which can be worked out by shape, that greatly increases
the chance that there is diagnostic patterns available from colour pattern
alone.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Maurovic, Mauro (DHS) <
<> >
To: <> <
<> >
Date: Friday, 22 June 2001 12:01
Subject: Feathers and the LAW .
One thing still intrigues me...how does a prosecutor prove the feather is
from a specific Australian bird or just a chook ? Mind you an emu feather is
a pretty good giveaway.
DNA?
hmmm.....
Mauro
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