"Turkey Rounds" Abdomen

[Byron haugh]

Hi,
This is my version of a Calibaetis Sparkle Dun.
I used what I believe to be bonafide "Turkey Rounds" for the abdomen as I first saw used in a fly tied by Walter Wiese of Parks Fly Shop in Gardiner, MT.
There has been confusion (mostly on my part) about what he references as "Turkey Rounds".
I believe this confusion stems from the fact that so many of us use "Turkey BIOT Quill" feathers for bodies on flies.
The "Turkey Rounds" are the lesser feathers. I have a photo of the turkey quill feather I used as the abdomen on this fly and believe it represents the "real" turkey rounds Walter uses.
Please correct me if I am in error.
Thanks,
Byron

[herefishy]

The only place I ever saw Turkey Rounds advertised is Feather Craft, and I think that was because they used them so much for their signature fly, the Crackleback. I'm sure you can get them in any color there.

[Byron haugh]

If you do a search for "hareline turkey quill feathers", you get several suppliers.

[Allan]

So turkey 'secondaries', turkey 'quills' and turkey 'rounds' are one in the same. Okay.

[quivira kid]

Looks like you could almost use them in place of pheasant tail for a different effect, as well. Slim, with a little "fuzz" and buggyness.

[Chuck441]

So turkey 'secondaries', turkey 'quills' and turkey 'rounds' are one in the same. Okay.

Not quite, Allan. Both wing primaries and secondaries are quills. So-called "rounds" are wing secondaries, because the ends of the whole feathers are, well, round, while the primaries have rather pointed ends. The leading edges of turkey primaries make fab quill bodies; both sides of a secondary make excellent "fiber" bodies, as Byron has shown.

Chuck

[Byron haugh]

Chuck,
Correct. Again, as I said in my original post, I think what is so confusing to most is their familiarity with "Turkey Biot Quills"..........these being the feathers and fibers so many tie segmented body flies with - whether "fuzzy" or smooth..........
Make sense?

A web definition of a Biot Quill feather:
A biot is simply a single fiber from the leading, or front, edge of a primary (first row) wing feather. On the feather, the biots lay against each other, leaning toward the tip of the wing. This allows air to pass over them and flow against the fibers on the rear side of the feather, which are longer, narrower, and more delicate, providing lift for flight. This is similar to an airplane's wing... wide, blunt in front, tapering toward the rear. It is easy to tell the biots apart from the rear fibers, as they are shorter, stiffer, and lay closer to the quill stem.
Here is a Turkey BIOT Quill: