Comments on: Anatomy: Primaries are Remiges

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:50:55 +0000

Birds replace their wing feathers as well as their body feathers when they molt. However it’s possible to damage the “hand” area from which the feathers grow such that the feathers won’t grow properly. The flying equipment on peregrines has to be in top condition because they have to fly better than the birds they hunt. Otherwise they starve. An injury that misshapes the primaries makes the bird unreleaseable.

By: J

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:40:58 +0000

Interesting. I have a question regarding primaries though. When reading your article on the history of breeding pairs at Pitt, Downtown, and elsewhere, I noticed a number of previous fledgelings had been injured in some way and weren’t releasable. One of these said “Primaries damaged, not releasable” So are the primary feathers unable to regenerate if lost or did this bird sustain a wing injury that disrupted the growth of these feathers?

By: faith Cornell

faith Cornell — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:14:19 +0000

I love these lessons. I look at birds so much different now. Thank you
Faith.

By: Diane

Diane — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:03:13 +0000

Another excellent lesson!