Is having a feather on you illegal where you live? (1 Viewer)

[txpossum]

Here in Texas, if a game warden finds a feather in your possession they can throw you in the slammer. I didn't know that. Last year I had a fledgling barred owl dropping his feathers in the same spot in front of my porch. I gave those feathers to my friends.

I also found a hummingbird nest on a tree branch, and kept it for a few months. Luckily I didn't post a pic of it on social media, or I'd probably get life.

 

[Sterngucker]

Here's the law. Applies not only to TX but the whole of the USA.

 

[txpossum]

I think that is a good-minded law taken to the far extremes. I suppose if a feather falls down, I can rope it off, like a crime scene. Then after it is duly recorded we can put chalk down where the feather was.

But thanks for showing me the law, Radneck.

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi txpossum and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

 

[raymie]

It's illegal to own the feather of a native bird anywhere in the US< though I had no idea that it was enforced on such minor occasions.

 

[txpossum]

It's illegal to own the feather of a native bird anywhere in the US< though I had no idea that it was enforced on such minor occasions.

Yes, I saw it on Lone Star Rescue. They were checking fishing licenses and the warden looked in the front passenger seat and there was a feather; apparently her young son found it and gave it to his mother because it was pretty. She was given a warning and the feather was seized. The Forum's emojis are down right now, or I'd add a doozy. : D

 

[Tired]

Yeah, that's the MBTA. It was created to stop people from, among other things, killing tons of birds to make hats. The best way they could think of to make people not want feather hats any more, was to make them illegal to have. There's no point in a hat you can't wear in public. The law forbids owning any part of all protected native birds, with some exceptions for frequently hunted ones like ducks. The reason you can't pick up a feather that was naturally shed, or one from a dead bird, was that you can't prove you didn't kill a bird for it. Obviously people aren't really going around killing birds for single feathers, but people could go around killing birds for many feathers.

I do think the law could use a small tweak. People should be allowed to have a small number of feathers. I don't know how you would legally define a reasonable number of feathers that someone is unlikely to have killed a bird for. It should definitely not be legal to sell, trade, or otherwise profit from native bird feathers, since, again, hats.

In the meantime, I can collect nonnative feathers. Pet birds, or pheasants, guineas, etc that are kept as ornamentals, are good sources.

 

[txpossum]

I do understand the reasoning behind it. But do they really put feathers in hats nowadays? Well, who knows what's on a fashion runway... they may be still using real fur. Me, I'm a jeans and baseball cap kind of girl, so haven't a clue.

 

[Mono]

The MBTA is also responsible for the miscasting of birds on US TV
The surprising reason Hollywood gets birds all wrong - The Washington Post

 

[davercox]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but it's not just Hollywood. Here in the UK, any time a producer wants a bit of bird sound, they'll stick in anything that sounds good to them. Amazing how often we get Common Loons (a winter visitor here) singing away !

 

[jurek]

I never had such a situation, and in my country possession of bird feathers changed between legal, illegal and a gray area several times. Obviously, the law was meant to stop killing birds for feather ornaments, but there is no visible market for such ornaments. So it mostly annoys young people who pick feathers as memories and makes them cynical about the legal system.

In such case, you could ask the officer why the feather is not from a domestic bird, say a turkey or an ornamental pigeon.

By the way, in my country several rarities were discovered only as lost feathers, and looking for feathers under a nesting site is a routine when looking for rare birds to protect them (nests of eagles, black storks, eagle owls etc).

 

[txpossum]

I get it now.
On Lone Star Law they just arrested a meth-head lady that made her money by killing owls, decorating mirrors with their talons, and creating barred owl headdresses, along with other songbirds. That was one of the creepiest things I've ever seen (besides puppy mills). She only had to pay a $550 fine for the feathers, but they nailed her on a federal charge for all the meth. Disgusting!