OK, I'll try to tie up the loose ends.
1. I found online a Great-horned Owl feather photo by the late and well
known nature photographer Larry West. Although much paler, it shows the
pattern of the 'Mystery' feather, as well as of Caleb's Red-tail. Interior
and especially northern Great-horned Owls (subspecies* arcticus*) can be
much paler than more southerly GHOWs.
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/greathornedowlspecies.html
The combination of circumstantial evidence and this feather photo confirms
to my satisfaction that my son's feather was indeed from a Great-horned
Owl. (I also found Barn Owl feathers online, sorta' similar, but easily
distinguished).
2. People who answered Red-tailed Hawk, especially Caleb, were not _wrong_
per se. (Who knows, maybe they are right and I've only convinced myself)
Amazing how similar these feathers are. Now Owls and Hawks are not closely
related. (They are far apart page-wise in the Field Guides) I wonder if
their similar structure (talons, bills, broad wings, etc.) are a case of
convergent evolution. And, if so, could such evolution also include
feather patterns?
3. A Field Guide to Found Feathers that I suggested be written, would be
years too late. I just ordered one. See:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bird_Feathers/LhdExsnFNKIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
4. Just for the heck of it I've included (attached) another interesting
feather found on our driveway yesterday. My wife correctly identified
this, helped by context, as from a Mourning Dove.
5. To make the best use of the $25 bucks I spent for the feather guide,
I'd be happy to try and ID any Found Feather Foto sent to me by OBOL
members. *Please send them off line.*
Bob OBrien Carver OR
On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 11:02 AM Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks Caleb for thickening the plot.
Circumstantial evidence: Last evening, at dusk, two Great Horned Owls
flew into the large maple tree under which the feather was found a few days
ago.
They are all around my son's place these last few weeks. Still begging
the parents for food, even though they are well fledged. Great Horned Owl
families stay together well into fall.
A pair of Red-tailed Hawks also frequent my son's place. They nest in a
large grove of Doug Firs about 300 yards away, soar around, hunt sidely,
but never land in this very dense tree. There is no evidence of fledged
young Red-tails at this time.
As to this feather 'type' being relatively commonly found, both Red-tails
and Great-horned Owls are found all over the country. But in general
Red-tails are more likely to be found in completely open areas, although
they certainly nest in forested areas, while Great-horned Owls generally
require some type of daytime roost, either trees or cliffs. In general the
owls do not hunt in a completely open area far from any 'cover' as they
require perches at not too great a distance from their intended prey. Long
and Short Eared Owls hunt by coursing over open ground. So far as I know
(guess?) Great-horned Owls do not.
So, a feather found far from perches is likely a Red-tail, while, as in
this situation, wooded areas would more likely harbor an owl
feather, although nesting Red-tails would coincide. Now, shed feathers,
like the birds themselves, do move around. Via wind in the case of the
feathers. Are feathers shed in flight? Seems possible, especially during
molt but during preening seems more likely. That is, while sitting on a
perch.
Now to the feathers. I have taken the liberty, in the name of science(?),
of attaching Mr. Sibley's Owl feather image to the Found Feather and the RT
Hawk feather provided by Caleb. They are all very similar. Referring to
the leaf structure in plants, leaves may grow alternate or
opposite, depending upon the species.. The plant reference meaning seems
clear. Here Mr. Sibley's illustration would be opposite, while the other
two appear slightly alternate. (Mr. Sibley's Owl flight feather seems to
show both). Of course we are dealing with a sample size of unity for each
feather so it's hard to draw a definite conclusion.
To summarize, circumstantial evidence favors Great-horned Owl, while
alternate/opposite favors Red-tailed Hawk as does Caleb's observation that
the RT Hawk feather he provides is a tail covert while Mr. Sibley's
illustration is stated to be a body feather. Mr. Sibley does not
illustrate a tail covert feather for Great Horned Owl, although it is
possible that it would be similar to the Found Feather as well.
It appears the next great addition to the plethora of bird books would be
a Field Guide to Found Feathers.
Bob OBrien Carver OR
PS In full realization that this discussion is getting totally out of
hand, I have violated the loosely-enforced OBOL request for attaching only
a single photo to a post and included an aerial photo of the 'Crime
Scene'. The feather was found at the base of this tree. The crime being
the misidentification of said feather.
After all, this particular feather has to be one or the other. Hybrids
between Great-horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks are unknown.
PPS As to the image of Mr..Sibley's latest book's cover, by no means does
the book deal merely with feathers. It is a compendium of a vast array of
interesting avian information, on a species by species basis, presented
with his usual clarity and illustrations, and fully referenced at the end.
A must read.
On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 7:59 AM Patrick O'Brien <pjobrien@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Great horned owl makes a lot of sense. I should have asked the size of
the feather! I still think that DNA sequencing would be more definitive.
How do we know this didn’t come from an extremely rare eurasian
eagle-owl/great-horned owl hybrid? DNA would tell you the answer…
On Jul 26, 2021, at 10:00 AM, Matthew O'Brien <matthewobrien@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Definitely had me stumped. Now I've got the guilt -- how many people did
I tell it was a Barn Owl feather?
But I can console myself on two things - some probably were, and at least
I hit the same avian family. I knew it came from a bird!
On 7/25/2021 7:16 PM, Robert O'Brien wrote:
Well, this was a most interesting quiz. Almost everyone got it wrong.
Including me. Including my Brother Matt near San Jose CA.
His response:
*I've had more people bring me a Barn Owl feather and ask me what it is,
than any other feather by a factor of 5. **I've always guessed that that
is due to Barn Owls shedding their feathers in flight? I say this because
they turn up everywhere. Places where it is unlikely that the owl had
perched to groom. And there are comparatively a lot of them around here*
.
My response could have been the same as Matt's. Exactly the same. I've
found many such feathers over many decades. No brainer. Barn Owl. But I
knew that this feather was found at my son Chris' place and that he had a
Great Horned Owl family around. In spite of Chris' answer, I 'knew'
that it couldn't be a Great Horned Owl, because I already knew that it
was from a Barn Owl. Plus Great Horned Owls are gray, not tan.
My son Chris insisted. This time he had backup. See attached. This
particular author seems to be pretty reliable (Ha!) and he has an image of
this exact feather on his Great Horned Owl page, along with a flight
feather. By the way, his new book (pub 2020), which Chris found in the
Estacada Library, is\, as expected, a great book. A must read.
Bob OBrien (Living & Learning in) Carver OR
PS Another son Pat from Ann Arbor MI said he knew it was _not_ a Barn
Owl, but thought perhaps a Cooper's Hawk.
PPS (This is a body feather about 4" long, not a Flight or Tail
feather, as indicated by the fuzzy barbs near the base.)
On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 12:06 AM Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
This seems to be a feather that should be easy to identify.
Irritatingly easy. But..................................?
This one I don't know myself. Yet, anyhow.
My son's place in Eagle Creek, Clackamas County
Bob OBrien Carver OR
Attachment:
FoundFeather+2new.jpg
Description: JPEG image
