Feather of hope

A little over a week ago, I had posted about my concerns that Léa might be a boy, since her head was in a big molt and grey feathers were growing in where coral should be appearing for female Capes.

For a while, and this was before I posted earlier, I had noticed two tiny wispy feathers that weren't grey above her nostrils, but I wasn't sure if they were new feathers or feathers that just hadn't molted out by that point.

I was keeping a watchful eye on her forehead, similar to the scrutiny I put her legs through while waiting for the first coral feather to appear there. She wasn't a fan, just like she wasn't a fan of the ankle examination.

The other day she wanted me to scratch her head. So I jumped on the occasion to keep an ever watchful eye on what might be hiding under the grown feathers.

And I spotted something, a new pin feather. Yesterday, while still tiny, it was clearly different in colour compared to the dark one growing right behind it, similar to the first pin feathers that I thought might have ended up being coral on her legs but weren't. Today, however, it looked different - it looked like it was heading to be the same colour as that first official coral ankle feather.

There is just one of these small, yet "fat" possible coral feathers on her head, at least that I've spotted. Although it's probably still early to tell for sure and I should probably wait for it to be a bit longer or even open, but it does look like I've got my girl after all!