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One white feather? What IS this?

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One white feather? What IS this?

Postby KimberlyAnn » Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:39 am

Image

Sorry the picture is so bad. It took A LOT of cheek rubbing to get it! I didn't want to stress her out too much over a non emergency. But why does she have one white feather? Her down feathers are grey. I guess I didn't see this before she started molting. Lol But it does not look like a down feather. Just odd. Lol
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
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Re: One white feather? What IS this?

Postby marie83 » Mon Jun 17, 2013 8:51 am

You've found Emmis preen gland. Well not quite, the gland is underneath the white feather which acts like a wick. I have no idea what the reason is for the different colour feather though as I would have thought the birds will instinctively know where the glad is but maybe there is a reason.
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Re: One white feather? What IS this?

Postby KimberlyAnn » Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:44 am

Interesting! I had no idea! Lol
My family: "Emmi" Green Cheek Conure (12/15/2012), One husband, two step kids, and one baby boy born in January 2015!
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Re: One white feather? What IS this?

Postby Pajarita » Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:13 pm

Yes, that's the preen gland. Not all species have a feather wick but GCCs do (some species don't even have a gland).
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