Hello, I just joined this website. I’ve been tying for a little over 1 year and I’m 12 years old. My dad found some feathers off of a female cardinal (wings, tails body), and i’m wondering what to do with them. Do you have any suggestions or ideas? Thanks for welcoming me.
Unfortunately, it is illegal to use song bird feathers, even if you find them on the ground!
There are a few exceptions including starlings, and piegons (I use both!). Game birds such as turkey and grouse, may be ok but you better check with your state game officials (here in NY found feathers from turkey and grouse are ok to pick up and use.)
Ed
my fly tying page
Well, unfortunately, you should put them back outside and forget about them. Cardinals are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and possessing the feathers, even if you found them lying on the ground, is against the law. You can’t tie with them, you can’t put them in a display, you can’t tack them up above the tying bench…
I know, it seems silly, but that is the law. Especially at your age, it is best to stay on the good side of it.
Ken,
As silly as it may seem, the others are correct and you could even get into trouble just having those feathers in your posession. On the other hand, I have amassed more tying materials than I could probably ever use so if you want, have your dad send me your mailing address I’ll be gald to send you some of my extra stuff.
My email address is jwsmiths@bellsouth.net or you can click on the Personal Message link to send me a personal message via the FAOL board. Also, tell me what kind flies you want to tie or what you’ll be fishing for so I can include stuff you can use.
Jim Smith
Conyers, Georgia
Ken. You can get a lot of legal feathers from birds that can be hunted. If it OK with your dad send me you mailing address via PM and I will send you some duck feathers.
Tim
Ken,
Welcome to the board. What everybody has said so far is correct. The folks from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have no sense of humor at all when it comes to the possession of song bird feathers. I use to maintain a collection of them for our Visitor Center and had a permit from both the State and the USFWS. I finally gave it up because the paperwork and reporting requirements were too complicated to make the educational aspects worth the effort. They made it way too easy to mess up and going to jail over bird feathers just didn’t seem like a good long range goal.
Keep asking questions and checking stuff out. You’ve come to the right place. Happy tying!
EDIT - Forgot to say, like the others, if you get permission from your parents, let me know your address through a PM (stands for private message) and I’ll send you some stuff too. Just click on any name in this list of posts and you’ll see the option to send a message.
Ken Y, very wise of you to ask. As you now find, you will be able to tie quite a few new flies. These guys are pretty special, as you may notice. By the way, say hi to your dad for me. 
Hi Ken Y. Nothing to add that has not already been said about the feathers, but I did want to welcome you aboard! 
Ken as you can see, because songbird feathers are not legal, there’s no patterns that call for them
That said…
… I’ve collected some pretty interesting feathers myself. Cardinal,… Oriole…, Jays. and others.
My conclusion is that there’s nothing you can do with songbird feathers that doesn’t work better with gamebird feathers
While we’re on the topic of feathers, just like songbirds, feathers from birds of prey are also illegal to have in your possession. (hawk, eagle, vulture, owl, faclon, etc.). Law enforcement very strongly frowns upon people collecting feathers from birds of prey.
Jeff
Ken -
Greetings and welcome from SE Idaho.
You may be the youngest member on the Bulletin Board ??
Hope you enjoy your time here.
John
Ken,
I started tying when I was twelve and got pretty good at it. Hope you decide to stay with the hobby. You’ll really enjoy it. 8T