I am interested to know of any publications that document the number of feathers on a bird's body and/or wings. I realize this will vary from one bird species to the next, and have found general papers on the total number of feathers with no distinction describing the counts from various parts of the body. It appears there should be less variation in the number of feathers on wings, and that is primarily the information that I am interested in knowing. Any helpful publication recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Hi.
It may be good to check this useful and interesting website:
http://www.featherguide.org/authenticity/Feather_Atlas_WPA.html
Super interesting, unfortunately there appears to be a virus-riddled website/group that is hosting this information. None of the North American atlas is working and my computer detected an ongoing attack when I went to various parts of the website - run by a religious group? I have contacted them to see if I can get a non-malicious copy. Wish me luck!
Kate:
Have a look at this link. All about Feathers - may be you find answer to your question.
http://udel.edu/~gshriver/pdf/feathers.pdf
Best
Syed
Peter Pyle's Identification Guide to North American (birds) - separate volumes for passerines and non-passerines - gives the number of primaries and secondaries of North American species. Not sure about tertials. So that is flight feathers only, not wing coverts. Available here: http://www.slatecreekpress.com/orderIDG.htm
Hi again.
Sorry, I didn't know that the website I recommended had a virus or similar...
To check for feathers from European birds I normally use this book:
http://www.nhbs.com/title/33979/the-tracks-and-signs-of-the-birds-of-britain-and-europe
It's very helpful when you try to identify an individual feather of a certain bird, but also for other purposes...
Best regards from the Canary Islands.
We're getting a little closer y'all! My student Alexandria Breashears has been working to count bird feathers (so far on scolopacids), and measure their internal diameters. She made these cool representations of feather locations, feather sizes, lost/pin feathers (red), and feathers infected with quill feather mites (black).
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