That link is from my neck of the woods Normand. I own this book which is a small investment: http://www.amazon.com/Field-Fly-Tiers-Skinning-Preserving/dp/1571882057 I think I bought my copy off of Ebay for $6
Will be chasing turkeys this weekend and have a nice selection of biots, maribou and other select feathers.
for this normand! i have a lot of friends/relatives who hunt from where im from, and my girlfriend owns chickens, ducks, and peacocks. some of her relatives are trappers, too so i hope i can get into some good materials. thanks again for posting!
My grand kids are constantly bringing me feathers they find from doves and black birds. I have a neighbor that saves feathers for me from her four birds. Those I’m saving for the day n the not too distant future that I decide to try a full dress salmon fly.
The dove wing quills yield some nice Catskill type dry wings. I don’t know what to do with the black bird feathers, yet, but I have some nice ones!
My idiot neighbor is trying to keep chickens in town. I’ll have to take a closer look at that rooster that keeps waking me up on weekends.
Do not tie flies with blackbird feathers . It is a federal offense and can lead to a large fine. Don’t even keep them. Dove feathers if they are a legal game bird in your state are all right but if you are not certain of what a feather is don’t keep it.
Seklew,
You should be ashamed. Dating a nice young lady, just for her connections to free tying materials! (Does she have a sister who wouldn’t mind dating a worn out old married man?
)
Normand,
Thanks for the link. I’m always receiving materials, deer tails, squirrel tails, feathers, etc. from friends who hunt. I have had a few go bad on me.
Kirk
Isn’t that a kick in the north end of a southbound donkey? 
I don’t know if these are true blackbirds or not, but from the looks of that list for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it’s probably there someplace. They are black and they are birds and they migrate. It doesn’t seem right that hundreds of those little critters can invade my backyard and leave feathers all over the place that, apparently, I can’t even rake up and throw away legally. I am going to have to dig into this further, but I appreciate the heads up.
Kind of makes that rooster’s prospects for a long noisy life a little slimmer.
I’d hate to see that rooster bite the dust because of a blackbird:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Fly Tying Materials by Eric Leiser is an older book but is very good.
Your library may have access to a copy for you.
Starlings are OK. They are considered pests. Crows are OK in most areas that I know of. Grackles and other blackbirds are a no-no. Domestic parrots etc. are OK as far as I know.
Guess it all depends on what type of blackbird it is. The starlings do make some good flies.
Jeff
kirk,
although it did make me laugh, sadly no she only has brothers. :lol: but if it works out and i get some useful materials ill be sure to send some your way!
heres the list of protected birds, again.
http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/mbta/mbtandx.html
some blackbirds are protected as well as some starlings. knowing which one is which is a different story.
Oh, well. Never hurts to ask.
And I don’t think the “brothers” route would work for me. 
Kirk
After further reading, it seems the Act was put in place because the birds were being hunted into extinction for their feathers to decorate women’s apparel.
If you do a Google for “blackbird feathers” you will see literally hundreds of pages with various items like earrings, chokers, etc. supposedly made with blackbird feathers. I would have to think that these items are coming from countries that are not part of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I don’t know.
I do know that my grand kids have a great time bringing me the feathers and are quite pleased with their finds. It certainly seems a shame to have to tell them we can’t do that anymore.
Jeff,
A little common sense seems in order here. This is still America. Our Law Enforecment personnel are trained professionals. They have to use common sense every day. Their job isn’t to enforce every law on the books, but to protect and serve the people of their respective jurisdictions. They are also VERY busy folks.
The chances of you, or anyone, being prosecuted for using a found feather to tie a fly with is miniscule at best. Unless you’ve made yourself a target, why would they bother?
Law enforcement of such a violation is VERY expensive. First, they have to determine that the feather is from a protected species. Since you’ve cut it up and used it on a fly, this means that an enforcement official must first: see or be told that a part of the fly ‘may be’ illegal. Second: decide that he has the required cause to investigate, the proper expertise to conduct the investigation, and be willing to expend the time required to do so. Third: Look at the fly and make a determination that it is, indeed, an illegal feather…this usually would require an expensive laboratory test…think about the amount of both probable cause and the expected results required to justify this…what ‘good’ would convicting someone of this VERY minor violation do? Why bother spending that kind of cash to prosecute a citizen when there are criminals out there to catch?
AND, you don’t even know that the feather is illegal to use. The law requires guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you have no legal or moral requirement to cooperate in your own conviction.
Laws like this were enacted to fix specific problems…overharvest for garments are the ‘reason’ for these, if I remember, so the enforcement folks aren’t targeting fly tyers, and likely wouldn’t even think about it unless presented with an example of large scale abuse…the use of one ‘found feather of unknown origin’ is not likely to be considered large scale abuse.
Keep your grandkids feather hunting.
Now, if you post the fly on a website, tell everyone you knew that the feather is from a protected bird, and proceed to brag about getting away with it, you might face a problem. Can’t fix stupid.
Buddy
I was kind of thinking along the same lines. I just figured the birds were paying me back for the 20# of birdseed they consume a month and for posting a guard poodle to keep the squirrels out of it.
cant kill the cat for bringing home a dead bluejay or cardinal!
a simple search provided all of these species of blackbirds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird
but only
Have the Leiser book and love it try alibris or abe books to look for a cheap copy
fatman
It’s OK to use if the bird is:
1. A species with a legal hunting seaon
2. raised, or sold commercially
3. legally considered a pest