Ethical Rare Feathers

Marcus Mark is the number one source of naturally shed, ethically and legally sourced feathers from protected bird species. Most of my customers use these feathers for religious and spiritual purposes, but they are also used for artwork and symbolic gifts. The feathers are only sourced from reputable and government-licensed bird keepers. All birds the feathers are shed from are in captivity and from happy birds (mostly in pairs for breeding and education) living in large flight aviaries. When the feathers naturally fall from the birds, the bird keepers collect them from the ground each year and send them to my facility. These feathers are then graded, washed, treated, documented, photographed and packaged - to be made available for customers to acquire worldwide, but mainly within Australia.

One of the purposes of my operation was to reduce the illegal feather trade between Australia and the United States, which had existed for decades before my business commenced. I currently hold Australian Government State and Federal level licensing for acquiring and supplying naturally shed feathers from such protected birds. One of my businesses, Mark's Products and Services, is the only entity with a federally approved Wildlife Trade Operation (since 2015), making it possible to legally export feathers from CITES-listed bird species to other countries. My business currently stocks feathers from many parrot and raptor bird species. It keeps detailed records of all feathers received and supplied and operates on a strict system that satisfies state and federal Government requirements.

I founded Mark's Products and Services (Trading as FeatherExchange.com) in 2014 and commenced exporting naturally shed feathers to other countries in 2015 after I acquired my Wildlife Trade Operation (WTO) and CITES licensing. An approved WTO is mandatory to export feathers from Australian-protected native species to acquire the CITES export permits. The feathers in the above image are a mixture of Australian cockatoos, except for two of the feathers, which are from an Owl,

Apart from the three peacock and pheasant feathers in the image on the left, most of these feathers in the photos below are from Australian native parrot species. The image in the centre shows only Black Cockatoo tail feathers, and the image on the right is Blue-and-yellow Macaw feathers, a South American parrot species.

I am looking to commence supplying more schools and museums for education. Feathers have taught me a lot about birds, particularly Australian raptor species. Due to the thorough inspection and treatment of feathers using water and a special agent, we can know which species are most vulnerable to wet weather and which ones withstand it better. It's fascinating how the traits and vulnerabilities of the raptor species show in the feathers. A good example is peregrine falcon feathers. The shafts on their feathers are not round, like with most other raptors, but are oval for additional strength that's needed due to their high speed, being the fastest creature on the planet when diving.

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