An Update on the Moult

Well, after doing some research today, I learned that a Red-Tail Hawk has a total of 54 flight feathers: 14 primaries, 28 secondaries, and 12 tail feathers. To date, Katana has dropped 17 of them. I have also started quite the collection of body feathers as well. She currently weighs around 1300 grams, and spends the day sitting contently on a perch in the living room, with visits to the weathering yard as weather permits. The vote is in - she is a dark morph. Her red tail is coming in strongly barred, and her body feathers are darker with hints of silver. Here are a few pictures to show her progress.

Summer Time Blues

Kylie is getting impatient with the whole molt process. She does not seem to understand that the birds don't drop all their feathers at once and immediately replace them, although this is how she would like for it to happen. And she's tried to get me to do unscrupulous things to make that happen, but I've rebuffed said efforts. So far there are about 10 wing feathers and 3 tail feathers gone. Numerous body feathers have gone by the wayside. The new body feathers are considerably darker than the old. The tail feathers are red, not white. That makes Kylie happy, and we all know if Kylie is happy then Krys is happy. The tail feathers appear to have black stripes throughout, but time will tell the rest of that story.
We have done a lot to stay busy. Kylie et al have helped me build a new mews in anticipation of my getting a tiercel sharpy next spring. Kylie and friends have been hard at work renovating my house. We have now moved on to expanding Kylie's mews. All that's left in that project is to lay the pea gravel, place perches, and put up the last wall. Now Kylie is recovering from yet another back surgery.
On happier notes the THA picnic was last week. Kylie was named Graphic Designer of the On The Wing. Kylie will also be running for the recently vacated secretary treasurer position and I will be running for Northern Director. We also plan on making a day trip to Houston this weekend to pick up Katie. From all that Ky has said Katie has been in good hands with Greg Barrow and she looks forward to having her back at the house. Hopefully Katie will be added to the hunting party this fall. Heck I hope now that she will have the dog back she'll still keep me around.

It's Snowing!!

Well, the molt is in full swing. It has started snowing in the living room when Katana bates, a result of the body feathers she is dropping. She has also become restless, and causing damage to her passage tail. She seemed to do well in Krys's new mews, so I am going to begin conversion of my mews to accommodate her. Hopefully, this will prevent damage to her new feathers. Also, her new tail feathers are just starting to push through, and yesterday I saw a hint of red. :)