Posts Tagged ‘feather’
Two kinds of feathers
At Raab Park in Round Rock on August 18th I noticed quite a bunch of small feathers on the ground that seemed to tell the story of a bird having met its demise there. Because the feathers were so small and light, a few of them had gotten caught on nearby plants, including the firewheel seed head (Gaillardia pulchella) above and the camphorweed seed head (Heterotheca subaxillaris) below.
Eventually I noticed a much larger feather near by, which I picked up and photographed. I began to wonder if it came from a raptor that had killed the bird that all the small feathers belonged to. If an avian maven among you can shed light on these feathers, please fly to our rescue.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Owl feather
As I began heading back from the farthest point on my April 17th outing under the power lines west of Morado Circle, I noticed a feather on the ground. Picking it up, I held it in front of me and took pictures of it in several positions. Chuck Sexton, a local expert on birds, says the feather is likely from the right wing of a great horned owl, Bubo virginianus. That’s the same species you caught a glimpse of, and only a glimpse of, in a recent post. Here’s a closer look at one part of the feather:
This feather proved to be the first of maybe half a dozen I found scattered at intervals along the trail. Seems likely the owl met its demise near by.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Small white feather caught in spiderweb
A few posts ago you saw an October 19th photograph of a hover fly on frostweed flowers in Great Hills Park (in fact only about a hundred feet from the place where, a month later, I took the frostweed ice trick picture you saw last time). Another thing I found during the October jaunt was a small white feather caught in the web of an Argiope aurantia spider. I tried my hand at a bunch of photographs, but due to the low light and the breeze—even a little air movement causes a lot of feather movement—I had trouble getting the whole feather in focus at the same time. In this image fortune favored me and most all the parts came out sharp.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman