Passage V

Fixing Raptor Feathers

Raptors, or birds of prey, cannot afford to be grounded for weeks waiting for a large number of flight feathers to regrow. They must be able to fly if they are to hunt and eat. Raptors, including eagles and hawks, therefore normally shed their feathers slowly, one or two at a time.

The premature loss of a flight feather to injury, then, is not an incidental matter to raptors, most of which are diurnal. If a feather breaks off with the stub of its hollow quill shaft still in place, the bird’s body mistakenly believes the feather is whole. Only when the quill socket containing the stub is empty will a new feather grow. Quills are hollow, so the removal of a quill stub before it is ready to be naturally shed would be very painful to the animal. Bird rehabilitators, therefore, treat broken raptor feathers through imping—the implanting of a new feather into the quill stub.

The bird rehabilitator begins by determining which feather has been damaged. On each wing, all flighted birds, having ten primary flight feathers, each one shaped slight different. If the left number seven feather is broken off, the rehabilitator selects a number seven feather from a collection kept exclusively for imping. If necessary, a number six or eight feather can be carefully trimmed with small scissors to the shape of a number seven feather. (69) The quill of this replacement feather is trimmed so that when the replacement feather is eventually attached to the quill stub still in the bird’s body, the repaired feather will be equal in length to the original, whole feather.

Next, the rehabilitator whittles a bamboo chopstick to duplicate the curve and slant of the complete feather shaft. He or she then inserts the carved chopstick into the quill stub. After sliding the shaft of the replacement feather over the sturdy, light bamboo stick, glue—just a touch—is applied. The raptor now has a rebuilt, functional feather. Eventually, it will be shed, allowing a new, complete feather to grow in it’s place. (75)