Andi,



No one has (publicly) responded, so I'll take a shot at it. I printed off a
couple of your photos and compared them with the birds in the Conner museum
collection. I was stumped until it dawned on me that the single feather is
probably from the eater rather than the eaten. (For future reference, it
would be helpful to lay a pencil or something next to the animal part to
give some size perspective.)



The carcass is, I think, a California Quail, based on the sturdy feet and
legs and a couple of the most distinctly marked belly feathers. The single
feather looks like maybe a sharpie or a small falcon feather, although the
rachis (the feather "spine") is redder than any I could find on the small
raptors in the collection. I'm not too sure of that one. It would be
easier with feather in hand.



Kelly Cassidy

Pullman



Dear Friends at Tweeters,



While examining a tree with a lot of whitewash and pellets near Yakima, I
failed to locate the owl, but found this bird carcass that I think may be
the leftover from the owl's meal. The carcass was lying on a branch about 7
feet off the ground. I lifted it off the branch with a stick (do other
people do this when they are on vacation?) to discover that it was very
lightweight, only bones and feathers, but nothing "nutritious" left inside.
The head and the wings were missing, the feet intact. Can you please help
identify this victim?



I have posted the photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24031688 at N08/show/



This feather was underneath the same tree. The fluffy grey feathers at the
base of the quill were the exact same grey as those left on the carcass, and
the dark brown matched as well, so I have included it in this photoshoot. It
may or may not belong to the same bird.



Andi Woolley
Sammamish, WA
andiwoolley at yahoo dot com