Exotic Feathers
Last Update - Sunday, November 11th, 2012

Quail

The family of quail is divided up into Old World, (Europe, Africa, and Asia) and New World, (the rest of the world) species. Old World species are in the pheasant family while the New World species, 32 in nine genera, are in a family of their own.They are found to inhabit a wide variety of terrain ranging from the tropical rain forest of Asia and South America to the deserts of Africa and North America. However, unlike grouse, few species are able to tolerate extreme cold.

coming soon!

Francolins & Spurfowl

Related to the pheasant family, the genus francolinus is a very vocal family of terrestrial birds consisting of 40 members, 5 in Asia and the rest in Africa. Some are refered to as "Francolins" and others as "Spurfowl", depending on how they are classified. Hardy, they are well adapted to cultivated crops. The Grey Francolin is considered to be a scrappy bird and often used for fighting

coming soon!

Junglefowl

All chickens are genetic descendents of the red junglefowl. Today there are 56 recognized lines of fancy show breeds, domesticating this bird and selecting for all the different breeds took hundreds if not thousands of years. However, if we took all lines of fancy chickens and bred them back together, we would end up unraveling all those years and be right back with a red junglefowl.

Guineafowl

All 6 species of guineafowl are native to Africa. With the exception of the helmeted and vulturine, they are predominatly forest birds.

Only the hemeted has been domesticated and today is commonly seen around farm buildings. They can't be missed, just the slightest concern will set them off chattering hysterically.

Peafowl

In their pure form there are only 3 species of peafowl; the blue, the green, and the congo. In captivity however, breeding enthusiasts have created close to 225 color mutations that range from white to a very dark colored bird called "midnight". Coming up with names for new colors is as difficult as coming up for names for new paint colors.

Turkey

The name "turkey" was given to these fabulous birds, somewhat incorrectly, by Europeans who first imported them from the new world through the country of Turkey. Mistaking them as a type of Guineafowl, they called them "Turkey fowl" which was later shorted up to just "turkey". And as with peafowl, breeders have selectivly bred them into every size, shape, and color.

Bustards

After more than 150 years, the Great Bustard is again nesting in Britain. Not since 1832 had a nest been recorded and now with birds introduced from Russia, the heaviest bird capable of flight is back.

There are 26 different species of bustards. They are an Old World family that diverged from cranes some 70 million years ago.

Stately in appearance, these birds find their home in the dry open country and steppes of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Unfortunately, due to hunting and habitat loss, populations of most species are in danger . The heaviest recorded weight of a Great Bustard to date is 46 pounds.

coming soon!

Cranes, Herons & Storks

Even though there are only 15 species of cranes, these elegant birds can be found on every continent except Antartica and South America.

Most species are at least threatened if not critically endangered so this limits the species that can be offered here. These are all captive raised birds.

Waterfowl

The buying, selling, trading, and bartering of native migratory waterfowl is regulated at the federal level by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

This covers both "webbed" and "non-webbed" birds. Trade in all non-webbed species is forbidden while trade in webbed species is allowed but only feathers intended to be used for fly tying or millinary purposes.

Added to this is state law. Most defer to the federal statute, however, a few states, and Wisconsin is one, are more strict, forbidding trade in feathers harvested from the wild. Hence, the feathers listed below are collected from captive bred birds and the proper 3-186 tranfer paperwork is on file and available.

Hookbills

Hookbills refers to any parrot type bird including macaws, cockatoos, conures, paarakeets, etc. They are some of the most colorful birds in nature and range greatly in size. Unfortunatly, many breeds are listed on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and as such, are not listed here for sale.

Softbills

Whoever named this group of birds "softbills" was obviously never close enough to be pinched by a toucan or speared by a heron's beak!

Ratites & Tinamous

Ratites are a family of mostly flightless birds. They differ from other bird groups in that they have no keel or sternum. This is the large bone that the flight muscles are anchored to so a bird can fly.

You'll find them on almost every continent. In Africa there is the Ostrich, in Australia the Emu, in New Zealand the Kiwi, in New Guinea the Cassawary, and lastly, in South America the Rhea and Tinamou.