Here I am with (well not with - more like well away from) my new friend Tootsie. She is a kestrel whose tail feathers are in a bit of a mess and she can't keep her balance properly when she flies. So she is going to have some temporary feathers put in. I am staying on top of the door until she goes. Douis fainted when she first saw her.
Can you really replace feathers?? Feathers are
made from keratin - like hair and
fingernails. Once they
have grown hair and bird's feathers are
technically dead - so
you can chop bits off and implant good ones
until the time for the
bird's next tail grows in naturally.
If you walk about the pavements
now wood pigeons are losing their tail feathers
- the miracle is they
are often in extremely good condition.
Having been used by the owner
for a year, rain and shine and through
every bit of tussle with other
birds, friend and foe.
Falconers as observers found that birds
like goshawks which hunt
ground game - rabbits, hare, and
pheasants running, often found the
hawks tail feathers became bent and
damaged to the point where they
needed replacing or they would cease to
be manoveurable and not catch
anything and the falcon would starve.
So they left the shaft of all
twelve tail feathers sticking out about
two inches, cut it to length
and with the aid of a piece of shaped
stick they glued each piece
together. If you do it badly the bird
will pull them out and have even
less tail than before and to a kestrel
that would matter - so I keep
feathers. I like them anyway - I have a
collection of feathers from my
buzzards, eagles, a condor, harriers,
kites and owls. I have to keep
the moths out as they destroy keratin
very neatly.
