13 June 2024
As soon as the breeding season is over adult birds molt to change out their old feathers. During this period many birds look ragged. We’ll see a few bald cardinals and blue jays who’ve molted all their head feathers at once. Peregrines will seem lazy while they molt in July and August. Canada geese won’t be able to fly.
This week at Duck Hollow I noticed that Canada geese are already molting. Their white rumps are showing, which indicates they’ve lost all their flight feathers.
At the end of this month Pitt’s peregrines will be molting too. We might see a peregrine feather on the falconcam.
Learn more about molting in this vintage article.