Stubby The Towhee

Day 249: Before you ask, I have no idea how Stubby lost his tail. Nor can I say with any degree of certainty that he was one of my regular visitors before the Incident, but he's been in this condition for at least a month. I thought at first that he might have been a young bird whose tailfeathers were late in coming in. It's rare, but it sometimes happens that the largest, fattest feather shafts have more difficulty emerging from tight pores. His long wing feathers were present, though, and appeared normal as he flew. I think, rather, that he had an encounter with a land-based predator (i.e., not a hawk or an owl), and escaped at the cost of his entire rudder. When he next moults, a new set of tailfeathers will grow in. I seriously doubt that he'll need a refresher of his Predator Evasion course.