Pierce Twerked too Much and Lost his Tail! š (Synchronous Molting)
Pierce Twerked too Much and Lost his Tail! š (Synchronous Molting)
Some owls do a synchronous tail molt, where they loose all 12 of their tail feathers within a very short time period so they have no tail at all for a while. That's what Pierce the Barred Owl just did, losing at least four tail feathers yesterday alone.
Barred Owl tail feathers aren't as stiff and sturdy as, for example, Great Horned Owl tail feathers. An unsupported feather growing in can easily break. If they all grow in together, they support each other.
Hm. And now I'm wondering if there are owls that do the infamous 'ass blast'? It's something some birds - like cockatiels for example - do when they are attacked by a predator (or get scared). They release all their tailfeathers.
Great question!
I haven't encountered what looks to be called "fright molt" at all yet in my "studies" and this blog post from Suffolk Owl Sanctuary describes owls as being very slow molters. The only type of exception that I've seen is with Screech Owls dropping most of their head feathers, which don't affect flight near as much as other big bald patches would, resulting in situations like our friend Weird Alice where they look like they were treated a bit roughly, but it's basically just a bad haircut.
This post from a buzzard blog says fright molt is basically unheard of for raptors. I know I tend to think of agility as something very important to a raptor, and also since they're also likely more often the aggressor than the victim, it may not be worth it from an evolution standpoint to lose those feathers all at once. I'll have to keep an eye out for more info.
Losing all your tail feathers might give them a -10/stealth penalty ( noise due to worse aerodynics ) and - 10 agility for a limited amount of time instead of let's say -1 stealth penalty for much longer period. So maybe advantageous to do when enough easy prey around or plenty of reserves?