Thank you all for the kind words. I am somewhat chagrined at how long it took me to get this little project done. I say somewhat because I have lived with me for fifty-one years, and am rather familiar with my prodigious powers of procrastination. I wear a turtle on my watch fob. It seems to express my general tendencies and the way I regard Time. YBYSAIA!
Mickey, those are two sharptail grouse tail coverts from a bird that Charlie Lamb shot. I can see the resemblance to a woodpecker's secondary feathers, but a quick feel or even just seeing them "in person" would reveal that they are much softer. The claws are bobcat, from one found dead by Vance Brewer, Chuck. I owe much of the pizazz to Vance, who mailed me Charlie's tail ( :eek: ), the claws, the silver concha, and numerous little knick-knacks and doo-dads.
To my credit, I killed the deer and the squirrel that were used in the project. Using woodpecker feathers would be against the law. :(
Killdeer