Walking around the grounds at the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, one sees swans, shelducks, mallards and tufted ducks coming and going; there's the impression that all the birds are free to come and go. The fences that contain the birds in their respective collections are barely two-feet tall, so inconspicuous that unless you're a toddler you are not even aware of them. But the majority of the birds are not free. The law requires they be contained either by netting overhead or rendered flightless. Its so subtle that I am sure that reality eludes most visitors.
If you look carefully you can see the longer primary feather on the left wing of this pinioned nene, but not the right.
That's really interesting! I had no idea it involved actually cutting off a part of the birds body. I wonder, do pinioned chicks ever even try to fly as they grow older? What about birds who learned to fly but are pinioned as adults?
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, by the way! If you can get one of a pinioned bird with its wings spread that would be neat to see.
owww!
ReplyDeleteI felt it even if the bird didn't. Which I bet he did.