Australian bird feathers (1 Viewer)

[Greg McKay]

This may seem strange but can anyone identify these feathers. They are on the wall of a collegues office and apperently were on the wall when he started working with us. The only thing we know for sure is that they were picked up in the botanical gardens Castlemaine Central Victoria. I wouldn't have thought to post them but the one on the left really grabbed my attention. The photo doesn't do it justice but the light section of that feather is a creamy white. The other one might be from an owl. Anyone with any ideas?

 

[Chris Benesh]

Greg,

The left one looks like a tail feather of a Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo. Not sure about the right hand feather though off the top of my head.

Chris

 

[Azzy]

The one of the left is definitely yellow-tailed black cockatoo

The other one, It's hard to be sure. I would say definitely bird of prey though. But I believe many birds of prey have the feather barring. Then again, it could even be from a cuckoo, though it's probable that it's a little large for that. If you have a local bird species list for that area, you could more easily narrow it down.

 

[Azzy]

Ok, so sorting through my old e-mails today and came across one with a photo in it from when we did bird taxidermy in one of my Uni classes. I got to do a southern boobook, which was pretty cool. Anyway, back to the point, looking at the photo I rememberd this thread and thought the wing feathers looked pretty similar to what's in your photo. It seems that the cream patches in the feathers are larger in towards the bird, if you look at the wing that's not outstretched, the patches are smaller and closer to what's seen on your feather. So it's quite possible that the feather belongs to a southern boobook. The feather pattern may be slightly different due to the region.


WARNING: Dead bird in photo. (no blood)

 

[Greg McKay]

Chris and Azzy thanks. I can't believe I missed the yellow tail black as I see them occassionaly in the gardens feeding on pine cones. Azzy i belive that you would be right on the Southern Boobook as there is a family of them that live in the gardens (some photos of them I recently posted in the gallery)