On January 28, 2003... A rather odd-looking Carolina Wren was feeding in my yard... it looked just like an immature wren. The reason? It lacked that long cocky tail. In fact it had NO tail at all. I have continued to observe the wren almost daily. At first there was one tiny central tail feather showing.. mostly black and white and curly.. then after many days it was obvious the whole of the tail feathers was slightly showing and growing back.. but very short. Now today the tail is about half length. Of course, I have wondered how easily the wren could maneuver its flight without the tail... and would it be disabled and more easily succumb to predators. Andy Jones indicated this tail feather lost was possibly caused by a predator grabbing at the bird.. and the tail is lost.. called "stress molt". I have two Carolinas in my yard and it has been very easy recently to tell them apart! They both seem to be doing just fine. Tess Cumbie Buladean, NC =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================