Many thanks to those who replied about my recent feather id question. The
general concensus was that it was from a Tawny Frogmouth, and that it was too
large for a breast featherr. A few suggested it might be from the bird's back
or shoulder, and possibly its tail.
This has led me to wonder whether there are any online resources for this kind
of thing. I came across this interesting US site, the U.S. National Fish and
Wildlife Forensics Laboratory's Feather Atlas:
http://www.lab.fws.gov/featheratlas
That site only covers 126 species, and only flight feathers (wings and tails),
but what an amazing resource it is all the same. They have plans to increase
the collection.
I'd personally really like to see something similar set up for Australian
birds, and I'm wondering how much support there would be for such a thing among
birders. That is, support for the concept, and support in the form of
contributions of feather images. I'm assuming, of course, that such a thing
doesn't already exist. I don't know if there are even books of such images.
(Please let me know if I'm wrong about that.)
I'm thinking that in addition to simply using it to id feathers, it would also
be of use to be able to closely examine the individual feathers patterns that
make up the combined patterns that we identify live birds from. As far as I
know, the only way for me to do that now is to ask a museum or one of the bird
clubs for a look at a specimen.
I'm also wondering if there are any legal issues that might be encountered.
It's illegal for people to possess feathers without a permit, but I guess a
blind eye is generally turned to people picking up the odd one they come
across. If people were to photograph their collections and submit them, would
the authorities be compelled to ask where they came from?
Peter Shute
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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