12:20 PM
Deer Island Preserve, Novato, CA
Initial thoughts: a woodpecker got banked. But looking at the feathers again, I'm not so sure. May have been an injured red-tailed hawk that succumbed to a pack of coyotes.
Another plausibility: feline predator nabbed a wild turkey.
Meleagris gallopavo ssp. intermedia. Colloquially known as Rio Grande Wild Turkey. First introduced in 1988 and released near my home on Loma Alta, rampant around these parts nowadays.
Imagine that, a mountain lion taking on a 20-pound Tom! He’d not have gone down without a fight dear boy, unless the cougar nipped his neck real good.
The physical evidence suggests the assailant to be punctilious and thorough. That, or other creatures carried off whatever parts of the carcass remained. Here then, just feathers and down.
Whatever the case, a fascinating scene. Hoist up a striped feather, pierce it into the hat. “CARRY ON! I SAY!"
Follow the flash of a warbler in hollyhock. Look there, a Townsend’s. Singing its telltale song— 🎵 "weezy weezy weezy weeZEE” 🎵
UPDATE: Valia Pavlou, a Greek naturalist and molt-ID expert, has identified these feathers as belonging to a Red-shouldered Hawk. It is quite possible then that this cluster of flight, contour, and semiplume feathers are the result of a raptor molting.
It has been documented that some 1st-year hawks exhibit " ëadventitious moltí " - losing random feathers for unknown or assumed reasons, such as trauma or natural consequences rather than design or inherent nature. May explain why are this particular molt is so grandiose.. the other explanation that has been posited is that a Great Horned Owl swooped down in the night and killed this hawk in a terrifying but beautiful act of predation.
www.inaturalist.org/people/karakaxa
Tags: feathers down