Feather

[kevyn]

Feather
Originally uploaded by kevynjacobs

I found this feather walking home from Haggens this afternoon. It was along Bill McDonald Parkway, lying on the grass.

I think it's a tail feather, about 25 cm long, possibly from a raptor, but I'm not sure. I looked on several web resources, and wasn't able to match it to any common raptors in the area.

We're right in the middle of bird migration season, and here on the Pacific Northwest coast we're right along one of the major North American migratory routes. We get all sorts of strange birds this time of year. I wonder if it's something exotic?

Any birders know what it is?

UPDATE: My downstairs neighbour Parker identified it for me as being a ring-necked pheasant. Bingo. And here's a similar bird. Darn, I was hoping it was a raptor.

Comments

[man-of-snows.livejournal.com]

I would guess a pheasant feather...

[man-of-snows.livejournal.com]

Probably a ringneck.

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's what I'm thinking, too... a Chinese Chicken. Not even a native species. Oh well. Still pretty, though!

[the-irreverend.livejournal.com]

Pheasant was my first guess. My dad used to hunt them on the grasslands of north-eastern Colorado and into Wyoming. I remember him bringing home tail feathers like these.

Never knew it was an introduced species, though it makes sense that the Europeans would import them to hunt.

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

> Never knew it was an introduced species, though it makes sense that the Europeans would import them to hunt.

Yup. Back home in Kansas, they call them "Chinese Chickens," because they are native to China. Introduced as a game bird into Britain in the 10th century, and into North America in the mid-1800s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Pheasant