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  • I am a member of the Inter-Tribal chapter of the Native American Church of Oklahoma. We normally utilize feathers from protected birds in our ceremonies. But the feathers are either getting hard to obtain from the Federal Government ( 5 years with a previous permit ) , or the old handed down feathers are wearing out from use. As you well know birds have a reason for molting, to renew their feathers. The birds of past choice are eagles, hawks, falcons, anhingas or scissortail fly catcher, but most of these must have been in Indian ownership prior to 1973. I am a feather craftsman & give away most of my feather objects to be used in the church or for Native dance clothes. I, as many others have turned to making ceremonial fans, used for christening, baptism, naming, & blessing rituals, from captive bred companion birds. These birds include all types of macaws, parrots, parakeets, conures, etc. I have found that I can obtain feathers from E-BAY or other online sources. This can & has become quite expensive, as a result this limits the featherwork that I can give away..I do not sell my items as I believe this would lessen the blessing that is asked or received, for the person or the birds whose feathers are used. If you would like to see some objects that some people sell visit: http://www.sidecanyon.com/psdropfan.htm These objects are beautiful but most Indians I know that travel to church could not afford to buy these needed items. Scott's heart might be in the right place & he might be trying to make a living from this..this is not my way, So now for my plea.. If you do not sell your molted feathers to help defray the cost of raising birds or already donate them at http://www.wingwise.com/feather.htm or just throw them away I could put them to good use...or disperse them to other craft persons....All feathers big & small ( tail, wing, & coverlet ) can be utilized. For these reasons I have recently set up a feather depot to disperse feathers that would have otherwise been thrown away. http://www.geocities.com/jlblalock5857/featherdepot.html I have references available if needed. There is to be an article in an upcoming edition of Bird Talk magazine on feather collection & the writer has said that she would include me in her article, I also have an un-clickable link on the front page of this bird e-zine http://www.holisticbirds.com Thanks .........Jay Blalock ( in Tulsa OK ) Also please reply one way or the other...

  • said jayblalock

  • 2003.09.18 at 07:55:14 PDT

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