>Tweets:
>The dove feather discussion got me wondering: does anyone collect
>feathers for tying flies (for fishing)? I don't mean kill birds for
>them; just pick them up.... Is it illegal?
>Irene

Yes, it is illegal to pick up feathers of any bird protected by the law.
Rock Doves, European Starlings, and House Sparrows aren't, for starters.
You can possess game-bird feathers, and I don't think you're obligated to
document where you got them. Pheasant feathers, for example, are commonly
sold in jewelry. Duck and gallinaceous-bird feathers are used in fly
tying. But it is entirely illegal to possess feathers otherwise--of all
dickey birds, shorebirds, raptors, gulls, you name it. Not that most
birders and many other people don't have feathers around the house; thank
goodness, no one is being prosecuted or persecuted for this. I don't know
what the deal is on possessing feathers of cage birds--zebra finches,
parrots, ringneck doves, etc.--but I imagine it's entirely legal. If you
can have the bird, surely you can have its feathers.....

I would particularly avoid having feathers from any threatened or
endangered species or those of special status--eagles, spotted owls,
peregrine falcons, swans, that sort of bird. Of course, educational
institutions can possess them. At the Slater Museum, we have all these
birds (and MORE!) because we have permits to keep them.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416