Feather ID

[William_Montgomery]

Found this at work today. Any ideas who it might have belonged to?

 

[Broch]

Found this at work today. Any ideas who it might have belonged to?

Nice feather and I feel I should know it but can't place it for the moment. I'll have a browse later but have a look here:

Featherbase

Vogelfedern einheimischer und exotischer Arten sicher bestimmen. Erfahren Sie Wissenswertes über die Vogelwelt und ihre Federn.

www.featherbase.info

 

[Seagull]

Hoopoe.?

 

[Broch]

Not a European Hoopoe; they have brown and black feathers but not in stripes.

 

[slowworm]

Cuckoo?

 

[Broch]

Could be though it's more colourful than on the database:

https://www.featherbase.info/uk/species/Cuculus/canorus

 

[Pattree]

Red kite?

 

[Broch]

Nope

 

[Chris]

Kestrel?

 

[Pattree]

Nope

I’ll wait a bit before agreeing (or not).

 

[TLM]

Old female cuckoo (brown variant) is not very far off, only not quite that orange.

 

[William_Montgomery]

Cuckoo?

Looks very much like it could be.

 

[HillBill]

Pheasant or Partridge.

 

[Broch]

I've had a good look through the resources I have, and on the database, and the closest I can come up with is the rare rufous form of Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) as Slowworm suggested. That's a really good find if it is and it would be worth getting confirmation. I've never seen a rufous cuckoo so, if they are in your area, it may be worth looking out for them next April (though there may be a few cuckoos still around).

 

[William_Montgomery]

I've had a good look through the resources I have, and on the database, and the closest I can come up with is the rare rufous form of Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) as Slowworm suggested. That's a really good find if it is and it would be worth getting confirmation. I've never seen a rufous cuckoo so, if they are in your area, it may be worth looking out for them next April (though there may be a few cuckoos still around).

Thanks, Broch. Appreciate your detective work on that.
I've heard many, but never managed to lay eyes on a cuckoo..... at least now I've seen a bit of one.

 

[Galemys]

Great find! Cuckoo is most likely, all young cuckoos are rufous so it should not be that rare. They are all leaving for Africa this month.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[TLM]

all young cuckoos are rufous

Most sources do not agree but say that the plumage can vary a lot, apparently though more young ones are rufous than adult ones. I did find some pics when looking for "young cuckoo" that show wing feathers quite like the original pic.

 

[Broch]

Mmm... according to my sources (county bird recorder et al) young cuckoos are slightly 'rufous' in having brown parts on the wings but not normally to the extent in the photo. However, I accept it could be; we'll probably never know

 

[Chris]

Should be pretty easy to spot them if you’re out there on the hour.

 

[Seagull]

Ain't even heard a cuckoo for years and years, never mind seeing one.