FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Re: Barn Owl

[Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>]

David,

I couldn't see a Cooper's doing it.  A Great-horned, however, would
have no problem.  They take skunks regularly, and they outweight Barn
Owls well enough.

But feathers were cut?  That doesn't compute to me.  And finding only
feathers from wing, and all from the same wing?  This sounds like an
act of human to me.  Perhaps someone found a dead bird and was
collecting feathers?

As far as whether the bird could fly minus feathers - I seriously
doubt that any bird could fly if it were missing 12 flight feathers
from one wing.  You mention that at least one was a secondary.  What
were the others you saw?

How closely did you look at the feathers?  Could they have been
chewed through by a rodent?

Very curious observation.

Charlie



--- David & Gloria Patterson <dgpatterson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> About 2/1/05 neighbor Charles Simcox gave me a feather he found
> under a stand of White Pines between our houses.  He wondered what
> it was.
> I thought owl or hawk, looked through field guides, but it didn't
> match... sent it to Kevin Calhoon, who thought it was a right wing
> secondary from a Barn Owl, which does match,- I hadn't considered
> Barn Owl.
> 
> Charles showed me where he found it, and we found 6 more, all
> similar and right wing.  He said he had picked up another 5 or so
> and discarded them.
> 
> The seven I have looked at are all cut off at the base, as with
> sharp scissors, not pulled out, no other feathers or down or blood.
> 
> 
> What happened?  We have a large Cooper's Hawk and some Great Horned
> Owls in the area, but it's hard to see how either one of them could
> have cut off a handful of feathers from one location and nothing
> else.  I suppose the Barn Owl could still fly with a dozen missing
> feathers on one wing.  
> 
> My own estimate is a Great Horned Owl's agression rather than a a
> Cooper Hawk's feeding.  Suggestions welcome.
> 
> David and Gloria Patterson
> Houston Lane, Ooltewah, Chattanooga, Hamilton County
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=====
*******************************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist in
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

"To the dull mind all nature is leaden.  To the illuminated mind 
the whole world sparkles with light."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson


                
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  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
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