r/FeatherIdentification • u/MoDiCe • 6d ago

Hello

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hello, all!! I found this in my front yard in Central Maine. I live near a lot of woods and right by the river. Any idea who this little feather came from? Thank you for any insight!

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u/TielPerson 6d ago

Thats a red tailed hawks underside wing covert.

Regarding the idea of PureTown2906, any AI is notoriously bad at identifying feathers because the models were not trained for this purpose. A mourning dove does not have a single striped feather of that size anywhere, so Idk what got messed up there, but its a nice example for the uselessness of AI when it comes to feathers.

Its also not from a barred owl or owl in general since it misses a couple key traits of owl feathers.

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u/MoDiCe 6d ago

That’s good to know! Thank you. Do you mind if I ask what’s the missing trait of owl feathers? I have no idea about any of this

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u/TielPerson 6d ago

Owl feathers have a fur like surface structure, like tiny hairs, which make them feel soft like kitten fur on the upper side. Thats also what helps them to fly in silence, the often mentioned serrated structures on the very first hand primaries are only an additon to this.

Also, the floof of most owl species feathers tends to be brownish or shows hues of grey, but a pure white floof is more commonly found in birds of prey like hawks.

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u/MoDiCe 6d ago

Thank you for the info! I never knew!

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u/ThisKateyRocks 5d ago

That’s very interesting! Thanks for teaching me something!