Feather id please

Tigger.ufo

Tigger.ufo

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Anyone know what this came from please? 7 1/2 inches long.@Cobra ....bird of prey?20200713_095630.jpg
 
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Best guess .......... owl.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
7 1/2 inches long.@Cobra ....bird of prey?
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TBH its much easier to tell if it's still attached to the bird (y)
Not helping much am I? :D

Pretty sure it's a primary, seems a little long for a barn owl. Plus its quite light too, unless that's the underside?
The closest I've seen to that has been from my Pere x Saker, but I guess its not that either.
Can't help sorry.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
Anyone know what this came from please? 7 1/2 inches long.@Cobra ....bird of prey?View attachment 286251
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Though USA based, I found this 'identifier' guide which might set you on the road to ID your feather......which as others have said is a primary flight feather.

The Feather Atlas - Feather Identification and Scans - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory

Welcome to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory, the only Lab in the world devoted to crimes against wildlife. This home page summarizes our capabilities, and is geared toward our prominent audiences: science professionals, special agents and wildlife inspectors, and students...
www.fws.gov

Found another that is Euro orientated


On a roll here, this pdf has clearly shown & named pictures ;)


Other interesting pdf at the end of this page

GOOD AND BEST PRACTICE (Work Package 5) | EURAPMON - European Raptor Monitoring Network

www.eurapmon.net www.eurapmon.net
 
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Box Brownie said:
On a roll here, this pdf has clearly shown & named pictures ;)
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Oh no you're not :p

The page you were on is trying to send you to an invalid URL.

 
Cobra said:
TBH its much easier to tell if it's still attached to the bird (y)
Not helping much am I? :D

Pretty sure it's a primary, seems a little long for a barn owl. Plus its quite light too, unless that's the underside?
The closest I've seen to that has been from my Pere x Saker, but I guess its not that either.
Can't help sorry.
Click to expand...

Helpful as ever ... :rolleyes: My rubbish phone pic! It is much darker really. 20200713_173355.jpg

Box Brownie said:
Though USA based, I found this 'identifier' guide which might set you on the road to ID your feather......which as others have said is a primary flight feather.
On a roll here, this pdf has clearly shown & named pictures ;)


Other interesting pdf at the end of this page

GOOD AND BEST PRACTICE (Work Package 5) | EURAPMON - European Raptor Monitoring Network

www.eurapmon.net www.eurapmon.net
Click to expand...

Thanks, great link! Found my feather. :banana:

tarric said:
my guess would be sparrowhawk but where you found it might help.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) - Feathers on featherbase.info

Vogelfedern einheimischer und exotischer Arten sicher bestimmen. Erfahren Sie Wissenswertes über die Vogelwelt und ihre Federn.
www.featherbase.info www.featherbase.info
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I agree Dean, thanks. :clap:
 
Yes! I've seen it happen.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
In a garden I was working in this morning, there were also some other feathers which I am guessing was lunch!

Could a sparrowhawk take a wood pigeon? :eek:
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Yes they do, I regularly find disassembled pigeon remains in our garden & we often see our local sparrowhawk pair sitting in our trees (not at the same time). On one occasion I saw the action unfold.....
The sparrowhawks scatter the smaller garden birds when they swoop across our garden.
 
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Cobra said:
Ah well in that case its a sparrow hawk :p


Yes, a big female will (y)
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The feather measurement matches with an adult female (y)

Do they carry their prey away? There were only a few pigeon feathers and no remains,
 
Deffo Sparrowhawk feather
 
Tigger.ufo said:
The feather measurement matches with an adult female (y)

Do they carry their prey away? There were only a few pigeon feathers and no remains,
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In my limited experience the sparrowhawk seems to pluck the pigeon breast & eats what I assume are the most nutritious parts of the bird & leaves the rest to the magpies and crows which carry off whats left.
 
broc said:
In my limited experience the sparrowhawk seems to pluck the pigeon breast & eats what I assume are the most nutritious parts of the bird & leaves the rest to the magpies and crows which carry off whats left.
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There weren't lots of pigeon feathers ... perhaps it missed?
 
The one we had in the garden in my last house used to sit on the lawn and eat it, dogs were usually outside to
keep the cats away, when it finished it would carry the carcass and drop it next door,
Saved me picking it up
 
Tigger.ufo said:
The feather measurement matches with an adult female (y)
Do they carry their prey away? There were only a few pigeon feathers and no remains,
Click to expand...

Sometimes yes, but they prefer to drag it under a hedge or into thick cover and eat it there,
If you have any of the above, it might be worth a look to see if there are any bits there.

A Spar ( female ) weighs 10-12 oz a wood pigeon starts at around that, so its no easy task to "take-away"
Having said that they may still be feeding young at the moment, so may eat half and take the rest.
 
Just what I was going to say. If they're feeding themselves, they'll usually eat at or near the kill site but will take manageable portions back for young.
 
Cobra said:
Sometimes yes, but they prefer to drag it under a hedge or into thick cover and eat it there,
If you have any of the above, it might be worth a look to see if there are any bits there.
Click to expand...


I will have a look tomorrow ...
 
Tigger.ufo said:
@Cobra Found more feathers in the shrubbery but no bits! :)
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That's pretty usual, they drag the kill into the bushes to "plume it"
( remove the feathers) before tucking in.
The few you found initially was most likely the impact spot.
So as before it either ate it all, bones and all. Or had a feed and took the rest home to the kids :)
 
FWIW

The first time we saw evidence of a Sparrowhawk's work was simply a ring of feathers................and wondered "what the heck had done that".

Another time it took a Pigeon, unsuccessfully and we had the dead bird to bury (we did wait a day to see if it would come back)

Yet another, it was a Collared Dove.......................mantled over it about 10feet from the back door....................it moved it nearer the shrubbery and proceeded to butcher it. Only evidence was a few feathers.

Lastly, only a few months back.................a Sparrow. I inadvertantly disturbed it but a few mins later flew back in and took the whole unplucked bird away.
 
Cobra said:
A Spar ( female ) weighs 10-12 oz a wood pigeon starts at around that, so its no easy task to "take-away"
Having said that they may still be feeding young at the moment, so may eat half and take the rest.
Click to expand...

I've just seen this and I'm curious. I'm familiar with 'Musket' for a male sparrowhawk, but I think this is an austringer 's term. Is Spar the same, or a generic for a female?
 
MartynK said:
I'm familiar with 'Musket' for a male sparrowhawk, but I think this is an austringer 's term. Is Spar the same, or a generic for a female?
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You are quite correct Martyn. these are both austringer's / falconers terms, Spar is female.
 
Is tercel/tiercel only applicable to falcons?
 
Nod said:
Is tercel/tiercel only applicable to falcons?
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The short answer is yes.
The longer answer is ...
In the falconry world a Tiercel is a male Peregrine and a "Falcon" the female.
Tiercel meaning 1/3, (smaller). Although that not strictly true, the male weighs around about 16 oz and the female around 35oz

In days of yore, the above definition was always the correct way of identifying Peregrines,
And is still held true by the purists
But more latterly "Falcon" has become the standard name of any long wing.
Be that saker, Gyr, ( etc) or hybrids
And the male or female, of the species.
 
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thanks for that, Chris.
So the difference is huge in falcons - the female is over twice the size of the male? Puts the expression "fat bird" into a whole new context!!!
 
Nod said:
Puts the expression "fat bird" into a whole new context!!!
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:LOL:
Nod said:
the female is over twice the size of the male?
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Its more the weight difference than size.
But yes the males of BoP's are always lighter ( not always by half) than the females.
And the physical size, at a glance or distance is not always obvious.

I'm pretty much out of the game now, but having flown and weighed most species over the years,
its almost second nature, but not always easy to tell from an image, which is which.
There are a few tell tale signs in Sparrowhawks, especially the adults, ( colour & the female has much longer leg feathers) the same is true for peregrines, re-colour.
But with many others especially the hybrids, these days, there the is no noticeable difference, unless you get them on the scales.
 
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This has always appealed to me...

'An Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King:
a Peregrine for a Prince, & a Saker for a Knight,
a Merlin for a lady, a Goshawk for a Yeoman,
a Sparrowhawk for a Priest, and a Kestrel for a Knave'

It's usually attributed to The 'Boke of St Albans, 1486'.
 
MartynK said:
It's usually attributed to The 'Boke of St Albans, 1486'.
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Indeed there is quite a lot of history and "lore" surrounding falconry (y)
 
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