a journey through the mysteries of moult

As a bird researcher in South Africa’s botanically diverse fynbos biome, I have come to regard bird ringing as part of my journey to understanding moult.

- ALAN LEE

SAFRING and my training mentors strongly recommended that, having put a ring on a Cape Sugarbird’s leg, I should also record the state of the bird’s flight feathers. Initially I had no interest in doing this. I wanted to know where the birds were moving to, so recording the status of the bird’s feathers in terms of moult seemed to me a laborious duty.

Moult is typically recorded for each primary feather, but the demarcation between primary and secondary feathers is not always as distinct as one might hope. Most passerines begin the annual change of feathers at this intersection, but even with years of experience under my belt, I often find myself counting the feathers ‘backwards’, trying to determine where they theoretically meet. Then there’s the task of distinguishing old feathers from new. Trying to do so tests the skills of even the most seasoned ringers.