Hello Robin,
A few ways to address this: You can do your own research about such a book but
I have never seen one. It is a good idea, actually it is a crazy idea but would
be fun to try. Maybe if I had another 15 years of available time and travel
resources to indulge such a pursuit I might do it, but there is really no
financial incentive to embark on such a task (would cost a fortune to do it and
no real return). Think about how many different colour patterns there are on
just one bird. Most good books about bird biology will include a chapter or
section about feathers: structure, moult, growth, etc. Not many such books are
about Australian birds but then the subject is world-wide. However I don't
think that is what you are asking. I suspect you are asking about how to
identify feathers that you might happen to find unattached from their bird.
Having thought that, I will indulge everyone on my thoughts and hope that is
really what you are asking. I will also send onto cog list as readers there may
be interested.
I consider myself as pretty good at this skill. Of course there are others
around who are too. In April 2015 I gave a presentation on that subject (at the
COG monthly meeting) and have the file still on powerpoint. The best that can
do is provide initial tips. I am not going into the aspect of identifying them
from chemical analysis, because that is not available to the ordinary person
just by looking. I learned most from collecting them through many of my young
years (mostly up to 40 years ago). Working out what they are, labelling and
putting in boxes and keeping a card register system. Doing this does not have
any of the damage associated with the far more common habit of egg collecting
(which never attracted me). It was a lot of fun to me at the time. My
collection was all from things just picked up, birds from captivity, dead birds
found by roadside, bush or beach, etc. I even went to the bother of getting an
official government permit for doing so. I also spent many hours in the
Melbourne and later Brisbane museum checking or verifying the conclusions I had
reached. Mostly by myself or sometimes getting help from - if I remember the
names right - McEvey & Vernon respectively. One I especially remember was one
of the early records of Red-chested Button-quail in Victoria (in 1975) how I
found a pile of feathers and was pretty sure they were of the Red-chested
Button-quail (we were there with the specific intent of looking for them across
the border), at the edge of a grain paddock near Dookie, after having seen many
in NSW (in the same habitat on a particularly good season) and going into the
museum basement with McEvey to check the specimens against my feathers. The
colour pattern was a distinct match. I wrote it up for The BO and it was I
think my first published bird report. I still have the feathers.
Doing so I get to understand the principles of working out what things are. The
main points are: by the shape of feathers you can normally get a pretty good
idea of what part of the bird they are from. Then knowing where they fit on the
birds, the size will give a good indication of the size of the bird. That is
why requests for help by a photo should always include a ruler or some sign of
scale. I have had some pretty crazy suggestions like where a person asked if a
feather could be of species A when the feather itself was almost as big as the
whole bird. Texture and feel will give many clues, e.g. owls and frogmouth
feathers are soft and fluffy. Strongly flying birds like falcons have fairly
stiff flight feathers. Having done that you translate the information available
about colours to know what part of the bird to look at in the available books.
Most important is to relate to that when you are looking at a feather you see
the whole thing. On a live bird, especially with wings shut, you only ever see
the outer edges. Think about the inner edges, often the colour arrangement of
wing and tail feathers is totally different on inner and outer webs, translate
that to the colour pattern on under and upper surface of spread wing and tail.
Interpret the whole thing into what is on the whole bird and that is the most
important clue. Then again we all should get to know the really obvious ones
that account for the majority of: "what bird is this from" questions: they are
the Tawny Frogmouth and the inner secondary feathers of White Ibis that are
white with the fluffy black inner webs.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Robin and Rupert Irwin
Sent: Tuesday, 26 January, 2021 1:33 PM
To:
Subject: Feathers
I’m wondering whether there has been a book published on Australian bird
feathers.
Robin Irwin
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