We all knew that Native Americans use feathers in their ceremonial costumes, but probably gave little thought to how many were needed or where they came from.  The guest speaker at our October, 2002 meeting raised our awareness in both areas.   Dr. Jonathan Reyman helps Native Americans get feathers and protects our favorite animal at the same time.  Dr. Reyman operates the Feather Distribution Project.  He collects feathers from a number of sources and distributes them to Native Americans free of charge.

Tradition and Birds

Helping Native Americans maintain their traditions is by itself an admirable goal, but we learned from Dr. Reyman that acquiring feathers can have a surprising impact on our parrot friends, particularly Macaws, whose tail feathers are prized.

As we know, the live capture and importation of birds can be very stressful.  But when a dead bird's feathers have value, there is less incentive to maintain the bird.  Dr. Reyman also showed us some photos of live birds whose tail feathers had been plucked.  So we can help by collecting and donating our feathers, reducing the demand for ill-gotten feathers.

The Good Stuff

I don't want to imply that the presentation was gruesome, quite the opposite.  Dr. Reyman spent most of the time discussing Native Americans, their culture and use of feathers.  It is obvious Dr. Reyman is passionate about his anthropological work and his birds.

Call to Action

We all have feathers.  We may even have a spouse that suggests the house would be better off with less feathers.  So collect those feathers, all but the smallest down, and bring them to the GPC meeting.  The Club will consolidate the feathers and forward them to Dr. Reyman.

Visit the Feather distribution Project web page, or the Wingwise web site it is a part of, and find out more.

More Information...

For more information, read Dorene Olson's article in the December, 2002 edition of the Club Newsletter, Squawk 'n' Talk.