<html><head></head><body><div class="ydpbf056d4ayahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Hi Tweets,</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Today in my backyard I found some bird feathers and a nearby bird skull under one of my Douglas fir trees. The feathers were in bad shape, but were black with white markings, they appeared to be the remnants of a wing, likely a male spotted towhee. The skull is bare except for a couple of small, black feathers, it is intact and looks consistent with spotted towhee except the bill is the same light color of the rest of the skull. So I am wondering if, during decomposition, the pigmented keratin layer separates from the underlying bill skeleton. I'm guessing these remains fell out of the tree during our recent stormy weather, I can't help but wonder how long they have been up there. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Peggy Mundy</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Bothell, WA</div><div><br></div><div class="ydpbf056d4asignature"><div style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><img title="Emoji" alt="Emoji" height="16" src="https://s.yimg.com/nq/yemoji_assets/latest/yemoji_assets/1f4f7.png" width="16" style="padding:0px 2px;vertical-align:middle;" class="ydpbf056d4ayahoo-emoji-wrapper" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">peggy_busby@yahoo.com</div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">@scenebypeggy on Instagram</div></div></div></div></div></body></html>