Found a large feather - what did it come from?

[Wynette]

Well, all my runs are covered, so I think I'm safe...but I do freerange now & then, so it's a good reminder for me to check the sky and trees before doing so! Thanks, guys!

 

[monarc23]

this is totally OT but just be careful who you tell about having that feather as im pretty sure you're not even allowed to have a feather from a bird of prey (stupid I KNOW)! Its very prettty and I also agree red tailed hawk.

They are absolutely gorgeous birds that I perfer to just keep flyin when they fly past my coops

Turkey vultures AND Black vultures... out of those two the ones you DONT want near your birds are black vultures they will peck your chickens eyes out (they also kill calves) and eat them after they have died from shock...came home one day when I was a kid to a small gathering of them beating up on something in our woods I ran them off and here was my trio of cochin bantams stuffing their heads as far as they could into the leaf litter to avoid what the vultures were planning to do. Poor babies! *they wreent hurt just terrified*

 

[Wynette]

Holy cow, Monarc! Thanks for that info. Gosh, the danged thing left its feather on my property...and I'm still not "allowed" to have it in my house? Uh-oh! I guess I best hide it!

 

[rhondapiper]

I must be alone in really liking turkey vultures!

They take care of roadkill cleanup out here in the sticks where the county ignores us, and from all I've read about them, they are really neat birds, and not at all threatening to your chickens or other pets (unlike, as noted above, the black vulture). Poor things get a bad rap for being ugly when they really take care of a lot of nasty cleanup.

I get laughed at all the time because whenever I see them I get all excited and say things like 'oooh, vultures' the way someone else would coo at a kitten.

 

[Wynette]

Well, I think it's neat that you love them, rhondapiper! See...there's a bird for every soul!

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
I think turkey vultures are facinating!

I just wouldnt wanna hold one (get puked on

). It still shocks me to this day how BIG they really are when on teh ground up high in the sky they dont look that big...down on the ground is a totally different story! LOL! I deffinatly dont hate them actaully did an article on them in highschool... about the rare california condor

. Turkey vultures and black vultures actually nest communally right here in our valley on the cliffs my Biology teacher told me about it years ago that birders come from all over just to see them here... I honestly had no idea LOL!

 

[maplesky7]

cool... ornithology trips are fun.

 

[77horses]

eek! I just looked up pics of a turkey vulture. They are kinda cute...but once you look at their face, they look pretty scary.

I agree with red tailed hawk. Definitely. better keep an eye on your chickens!

Here's a pic of a red tailed hawk tail feather:
http://blowingfeather.com/prints/red_tail_feather.jpg

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

Quote:
That is what it is.

 

[Cetawin]

I did not read any of the posts but I looked at the picture which did not fully load before I said Redtail hawk. They are unmistakeable. the red with the dark bar is a tail feather and judging from the curve of it, it is near the center tail feather but not the center.


OH and burn that feather pronto. Unless you are a licensed rehabber or native american registered with the federal government it is a 5,000.00 fine and/or jail time for possessing it.