Preening off down at 36 days old (TT, 6-25-24)

The juveniles shed their down quickly and naturally, and they also do quite a bit of preening at this stage. Here you see the juvie ends up with a mouth full of downy feathers getting to those "hard to reach spots" on his back. They are often mostly free of visible down except for some tufts on their heads and above the tail and inside the wings as they take flight for the first time.