Birds losing tail feathers

[Jeffar]

lately i have seen alot of birds at my feeder missing thier tail feathers, everything from junco's, towhee's, Stellers jays and my two Northern Flickers only have 1 tail feather each.
is this the time of year that the birds are moulting and if so, do they lose all thier tail feathers at once... it's gotta make it tough to fly without a tail rudder.

here's a stellers jay with no tail




the two pics of the Towhee were taken a while back but i thought i'd share them anyways

[Deleted]

Hi, Jeffar.

This is not the time of year for songbirds to be molting tail feathers, and even if it was, they would not molt them all at once. Most would start by shedding the inner pair of tail feathers and gradually losing and replacing them in pairs, one feather on each side, working outwards. (Hey, Gord, did I remember that correctly?) This normally happens once a year for most species, after their nesting season is over in the fall.

We have had a tailless Spotted Towhee and Chestnut-backed Chickadee around our urban yard feeders, too, but I strongly suspect close calls with the neighbourhood cats are the cause, although I can't prove it. (We have declared our backyard a cat-free zone, but enforcing it is another matter. )

Another possible cause could be Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk attacks. However, when we were seeing both species of hawk around our yard earlier in the winter we never saw any tailless songbirds. We haven't seen either of these hawks for a couple of months but are now seeing the tailless birds, so I conclude it's not the hawks.

Anyone else have any ideas on this? I'm only speculating.

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Gord]

Stan, I think it is most likely cats as well. If something grabs on, the bird will shed its tail feathers to escape.

I also remember the tail molt as you describe! ;D

Gord
Chilliwack

[kastern]

When I first read this report about tail less birds I thought it very strange that so many species in the same location were 'tail less' and then just a minute ago I had a tail less Black Cap Chickadee show up at my feeder.

I have always suspected cats when ever I've seen a tail less bird, but we live in an area where all cats must be 'indoor' cats, not that there aren't still a few around, either feral ones or from somewhere outside our complex.

Kathy

[Jeffar]

i also have a "catless" area... my dog makes sure of that, i do have a resident coopers hawk that haunts my feeders quite often.. but i can't believe that the hawk is responsible for all of the birds with missing tail feathers.
i would think that there would be more damage to a bird than just missing tail feathers if a hawk got a hold of it.. my 2 Northern Flickers for example have every feather perfectly in place except thier tail feathers...