sometimes you want more feathers for your collection but you don’t know where to find them any advice?
I am no expert on finding feathers however, I know a thing or two that may help you to find feathers. First off, you should look in areas that have a high density of birds, like a local woods, with a healthy bird population, because you won’t find feathers where you won’t find birds. Second, you can look for feathers when birds are commonly losing them. Usually, birds will molt in early Spring or in late Fall, however it depends on the bird species, and location, so research when species of birds in your area molt, to get a better idea. Lastly, you can look for feathers in areas that birds spend a lot of time. For example, if a lot of birds hang out in a specific tree, they probably do a lot of things there like preen themselves, which is commonly when birds lose feathers. Hopefully these tips help you find feathers!
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Old nests can be a good place for feathers, depending on the bird.
For inspiration, here are all the observations on iNaturalist with the observation field “Animal Sign and Song” set to “Fur/Feathers”: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=3&field:Animal%20sign%20and%20song=Fur%2FFeathers
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Check the laws in your area. In the US, all migratory birds are protected. There are exceptions for a few commonly hunted species, but for everything else, you can’t own any part of the bird. Even loose feathers, since there’s no way for them to tell if the feather was shed naturally or pulled from a dead bird.
If you’re in the US, try looking at zoos and aviaries for nonnative bird feathers. If you aren’t in the US, make sure you know what birds are protected, and what feathers you’re allowed to have.
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Oh my! Thanks for this! I’m mostly using the app on my phone & here’s another thing on the website that I never knew about. Now I’m going to add this observation field to dozens of my observations.
Love a new project! Like another iNatter said, it sure scratches some itches! :o)
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You will also love the project for Found Feathers.
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U can find feathers near a shop where they sell birds or may be a huge park where lot of birds have built their nests
Thanks guys this will help a lot!
Put some chickens in your backyard, and you will never run out of feathers.
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You can get ~some~ feathers legally, say, domestic farmed species, but be careful about your source.
This site discusses some of the US laws :
If you’re near a beach those are excellent places to find feathers. Of course, it’ll primarily be seabirds.
There are generally two places you find them on beaches, one is near the daily high water mark. In this area many of the feathers are waterlogged and damaged, although some of those can be recovered with clean water, shampoo, and a hair dryer.
The other place is at the storm wrack line, up where stuff gathers in high water events. Generally this where you find accumulations of large pieces of driftwood, etc, much of of it well dried as the water rarely reaches this high. The feathers in this area tend to be in pretty good condition as they blow along the beach until they get caught in these areas.
As a kid I used to collect feathers from this upper area and see if I could get enough to make a mock-wing. I keep wanting to see if I can make a model plane that has wings made of found seagull feathers but where I currently live there are few seagulls and the beaches are generally completely covered to the cliffs by the high tide.
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Suppose you are interested in rearing birds like Turkey and Emu,I am sure that u will see a lot of feathers.
Or if u live in a forested area then check in places where there are more tall and branched trees
I have chickens i have 3 pekin bantams and 3 silkies.
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