Abstract

This study was conducted to know the molting sequence and the aging points of flight feathers of steller`s sea eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus). For this study, two captive immature steller`s sea eagles raised at the Ornithology Laboratory attached to Kyungsung University were surveyed for five years from Nov. 2000 to Nov. 2005. The survey indicated that the first molting began in July of the second year, and the primaries of P1-3, the secondaries of S18-19 (female), S17-18 (male), and S1 and S4 were replaced by one-time with second generation feathers. Generally molting stopped during the winter period, but a few feathers continued to molt during the winter. The two secondaries of S18-19 (female) and S17-18 (male) always molted every year but some of the juvenile secondaries (male: S10, S11, etc) retained for 2 or 3 years. In the molting order of primaries, the first molting started at P1 and it proceeded to P10 of outside. In the secondaries, the first molting started at S17(male) and S19(female), and it proceeded to outside. After that molting it started at S1 and proceeded to inside. In the other secondaries, the pattern of molting which proceeded in the mid-part of the secondaries was usually beginning in several different points at the same time. The molting seemed as if it depends on both the conditions of the individuals and the environment, so it was very difficult to explain the molting pattern in the mid-part of the secondaries. The longer quills (P7, P8) required for more than 68 days to develop. In the comparison of the length in the remiges between the first and the second generation feathers, the first generation feathers were the larger than that of the second. And the reduction of the length between the second and the third generation feathers was a few. The reduction of the length between the third and the fourth generation feathers was slight. The juvenile primaries were dark brown with a whitish base, which could be observed until the second or the third generation feathers (in their third or fourth winter plumage).

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