Greensboro Birds

It’s been a busy, busy week—I have tons of editing to do, the Tour de France is on, plus the house stuff. On Wednesday, after inspection, we challenged our intrepid agent, Catherine, to a hike around the rugged perimeter of our potential property. She’s a trooper, though, outing herself as a great spotter of cool old semi-buried trinkets—and hawk feathers (at top)! I didn’t see it, but Catherine points off into the woods and says, “Is that a feather?” Josh trots into the underbrush, Catherine directing him, and emerges with this foot-long feather from an unidentified raptor. Well done! We know there are at least a few birds on the property. For comparison, I took a snapshot of it next to smaller feathers (probably from the tails) of a Blue Jay (bottom left) and a Great Horned Owl (bottom right).

Disclaimer: The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 strictly prohibits the possession of any part of a wild bird (except owl pellets, thankfully), including eggs, nests, and even feathers. Back in the day, feathers were commonly used in fancy ladies’ hats; feather sellers slaughtered millions of everyday and not-so-everyday birds, taking the feathers and leaving the plucked bodies for the vultures. The Act, however, does not prohibit on-site photography of said bird parts.