All illegal, unless you're speaking of stuffed game birds that someone
had a hunting permit for. Hopefully any art or decorations you've
purchased that have feathers are made with domestic chicken, duck or
turkey feathers. There is a depressingly large illegal trade in feathers to
be used as decorations, not just of bald eagles, but of jays and other
colorful birds. Whole wings and tails go for 100's to 1,000's of dollars.
The problem is big enough that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife has carried out
several multi-year undercover sting operations, mostly in the south west.
Native peoples, museums, and the occaisional researcher receive
special permits to have whole or parts of birds.

>>> "Jane Westervelt" <Jwesterv at novell.uidaho.edu> 02/26/98 09:18am
>>>
> Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:37:18 -0800
> Reply-to: rsaecker at thurston.com
> From: Rob Saecker <rsaecker at thurston.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Feather collections

> At 4:59 PM -0800 2/25/98, Kelly A. Bettinger wrote:
> >And the term "migratory" in the Migratory Bird Treaty is not used
literally.
> >Basically all native birds are covered, and it is illegal to possess
feathers
> >of any of them, even if just picked up in your own yard.
>
> Ahhh, so that leaves us with, what? Chickens, domestic turkeys,
geese and
> ducks, starlings and English sparrows? Anybody out there, wanna talk
about
> your feather collection? ;)
>
> Rob Saecker
> Olympia
>
So, what about having the whole stuffed and mounted bird? And what
of various decorations that have some of these feathers?
jw
Jane Westervelt
Moscow, ID