Was this feather plucked or old?

[chris-md]

Parker has been preening on my shoulder for the last 15 minutes. I haven't been really paying attention until the feather dropped down in front of me.

Can you help me determine if this was plucked or if it was at the end of its life? It's so blackened and tattered my gut tells me it's just an old feather but would like confirmation. This is the second one I've found, as one appeared yesterday as well. Are we coming into a second moulting season?

Any overall ibservations about the condition of the feather would be most welcome as well.

Thanks as always!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Here's a bigger version of the pic

The shaft looks dry and perfectly in tact, which could be an indicator that this particular feather was ready to come out. However, the same feather also shows a bit of overpreening/barbering on the right side.

 

[chris-md]

Thanks Wendy! How'd you do that?? I only use the option to manage attachments, and the thumbnail is all I get.

Thanks for the observations! That's essentially what I thought. I found a third one this morning, and he does have a couple feathers coming in on his shoulder so it does make sense that it wasn't pulled out.

Can you tell me, what do you make of it being very black spotted, and grey/black all the way up the top side (as you look at it in the photo, all the one side)?

 

[JerseyWendy]

As for the photo, all I did was click on it, thus making it bigger, then I right-clicked, copied and pasted right into my response. The only time photos will show up big initially is when they are uploaded to a photo hosting website, such as Photobucket (of course the photo has to be big to begin with, or that won't work).

The black spotted 'could' mean poor nutrition, but that entirely depends on the exact location he lost this particular feather. If you look at him closely, you'll see that male ekkis do have some feathers with dark shadings on them.

Here's a pretty good link about feathers in general, and what they reveal:
All About Your Parrot's Feathers - The Causes Of Molt, Feather Problems And What You Can Do About Them

 

[chris-md]

Great Link Wendy, thanks for sharing it!