#Alula feather full#
#Alula feather code#

Jenni & Winkler had one bird out of their sample of 229 that had moulted a carpal covert (on one wing only) and a 1980 article in Ringers' Bulletin on ageing Bullfinches noted three out of several hundred 1y birds that had moulted the carpal covert, two of them with some ogcs retained. The next generation, that it grew last autumn in its post-juvenile moult are the rest of the greater coverts and, unusually, its carpal covert that has a greyish border rather than the brownish that is usual for a bird aged 5. This close-up of its coverts shows its oldest feathers - those that it came out of the nest with: the outer primary coverts, alula (note the brown fringe on the smallest alula feather) and the two outermost greater coverts.

#Alula feather full#

It was aged '5', hatched 2002, now in full moult for the first time. Now that we've looked at an easy one, a male Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula yesterday had three generations of coverts. I have not photographed the upper parts of the wing (under my thumb) very well, but it can also be seen that the lesser coverts are growing, and the small feather of the alula (sometimes called A1 or the alula covert), but not yet the median coverts and the larger two alula feathers (A2 and A3). On the other hand, it has moulted all of its greater (secondary) coverts in one go as a block, not linked with the corresponding secondaries. Each primary covert is moulted along with the corresponding primary feather, so that the outer primary coverts are still juvenile pale-brown. I think the coverts are interesting and instructive. Although they are probably only about ten weeks old, the wear on the tips of p8 and p9 (counting descendantly) is noticeable, with p8 having broken, so the need for a full moult is perhaps obvious. The tertials are the most exposed feathers and are moulted early, along with some of the innermost primaries. Using the standard scoring system of 0=old feather to 5=fully-grown new feather, I would score the remiges as 5 3 5 | 0 0 0 0 1 4 | 5 5 5 5 5 4 2 0 0 0.

This photo shows two pictures of the same bird caught in my garden on 11 August:

They're almost like the brightly-coloured pictures (red, yellow, green, blue) that Jenni & Winkler use to illustrate the schematics of moult progress. The juvenile and 'adult' feathers are so different in colour that it must be about the easiest species in which to detect 'new' and 'old' feathers. Starlings Sturnus vulgaris are another of the species where juveniles have a complete moult, although they can still be aged after the moult by subtle differences in plumage such as the shape of uppertail coverts and the length of the throat feathers. We can have interesting, but largely nugatory, discussions about when a growth-bar becomes a fault-bar, but in this case I don't think there is much doubt: One of these birds had a very obvious fault-bar across the tail. I think this can be a particularly helpful extra ageing characteristic in this species where both first-years and adults have a full moult. The brownish colours of the juveniles and the reddish hue of the adult are quite easy to distinguish once you get your eye in (!). The photo below shows the eyes of these three birds, with an adult (age 4) that I photographed in February for comparison.

#Alula feather code#

Having a net up in my garden last week allowed me to catch three Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto, all first-year birds (Euring age code = 3).