Awesome Liz! Thanks for sharing.
Janice Reid
Wilbur, OR
Sent from Windows Mail
From: Gayner, Elizabeth
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 5:15 PM
To: Francis Eatherington
Cc: umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello Birders,
If you are interested in aging birds by molts/ feathers... continue on.
Otherwise you may delete.
I finally got to look at the pic on a real computer (vs my little phone).
Happy to hear this bird recovered!
Thought I would take advantage of the close up picture and pass along some info
on aging birds... criteria we look at when banding birds based on molt limits/
feathers. Typically the tail and wings are stretched out to compare the
individual and sets of feathers to each other by wear, size, shape, and color/
color contrasts. But going off this pic... this is what I can share with ya....
Woodpeckers can retain three generations of feathers - juvenile, formative, and
basic (adult)... and is usually based on looking at the rectrices, flight
feathers, and greater and secondary coverts. This bird appears to be a second
year male (born last year - in his second spring/summer) based on the following:
Duller (brownish) juvenile feathers in his primaries and secondaries (compared
to the black rectrices and back feathers).
Some retained brown feathers contrasting with the black feathers on the back-
third year or older adults are typically all black.
The lack of a full red feathering on the nape is another indicator of age as
well... a third year or older male will have a red nape.
Lastly, the iris color on this bird is grayish brown versus a deep reddish
color (typical of birds in their third year or older).
If you want more info on this check out the following link:
http://www.birdpop.org/pages/pubsDatabase.php (search molt and feather studies)
recent publication from the above link:
http://www.birdpop.org/docs/pubs/Pyle_2008_Birding_by_Feather_A_Molt_Primer.pdf
Anyway, hope some folks find the info helpful and/or interesting. It is always
a fun challenge in the field for us to age a bird in hand... although can be
frustrating as well since birds don't always follow the literature and patterns
that are published. Still an evolving method of aging birds. :O)
For the Birds,
Liz
Elizabeth I. Gayner
OR/WA BLM Peregrine Falcon Technical Coordinator
Lead Wildlife Biologist - Swiftwater Field Office
Bureau of Land Management - Roseburg District Office
Phone: (541) 464-3381; egayner@xxxxxxx
On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Francis Eatherington
<francis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I heard it fly into our window, and found it laying on it's back on our deck,
breathing heavily. I put the cloth over it and laid it in a safe place in the
grass in the shade, and tried to prop it's head up a bit.
It's been about 30 minutes. It's still breathing, shaking now and then.
We have a hairy woodpecker nest in a dead branch at the top of our old walnut
tree. We've been watching the adults feeding the nestlings. Gosh, I hope the
babies survive this as well.
Francis
