Dear all, Captive birds may or may not show feather wear. I have kept bird for 40 years. Some of my birds have worn awful feathers and are incapable of flight. They are the exception though and most have less feather wear than wild birds. Their molted feathers are less worn than almost any wild molted feather you find. The reason for this is that in captivity they are protected from the elements, live in a less hazardous environment and seldom break feathers while feeding, bathing or fleeing from predators. They do not challenge others of their species for sexual supremacy as I keep one pair or one bird per cage. They learn their space and seem to avoid damage to their feathers. The worst cases of feather wear I have observed were in wild birds. Both so feather-worn they had become flightless. One was a gull and actually I have seen a number of examples there. The other was a female redwing blackbird whose flight feathers were so worn, she was flightless. Newly captured wild birds placed in cages generally damage their feathers, often significantly. If the tail damage of the Tropical Mockingbird was cage related, I would expect to see equal or worse damage to the wings. As a general rule, when I have observed cage-related feather damage it is always the wings that take the brunt of the damage in equal or greater proportion to the tail. The wing feathers of the TRMB at Sabine Woods seem to be in relatively good shape compared to the tail. Therefore I would look for a different explanation for the tail feather damage than being cage related. This opinion and $5 will buy you a cup of coffee now days. Fred Collins (281) 357-5324 Director: Kleb Woods Nature Center Cypress Top Historical Park Commissioner Steve Radack Harris County Precinct 3 www.pct3.hctx.net<http://www.pct3.hctx.net> TEXBIRDS help file and Texas birding links at: http://moonmountaingroup.com/texbirds Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds