Melanie Barsony has spent years honing her skills in the art of imping to give birds of prey a better chance of survival.

The procedure of meticulously repairing damaged flight feathers can save birds of prey from the potentially fatal consequences of not being able to hunt for food.

"Birds of prey need their feathers in absolutely perfect condition to be able to fly and manoeuvre and hunt," the raptor expert and Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) volunteer said.

"As a feather becomes broken or damaged, they are at a disadvantage."

Ms Barsony said she travelled halfway around the world to learn the rare and difficult technique of imping.

"Imping is a really old technique originating in the Middle East," she said.

"It began when people used to hunt with falcons."

'A fine art'

The practice involves joining a donor feather to the shaft of a broken feather with wooden dowels and glue.

When the bird moults, the donor feathers fall out.

Ms Barsony spent a total of six weeks in 2013 and 2014 interning at the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital — the world's largest falcon hospital — with her mentor and raptor specialist Peggy McDonald.

"It is definitely a fine art and you have to make sure that not only are the feathers the correct length and the correct match of the specific feather but also that the alignment is perfect," Ms Barsony said.

"They have to be [from birds of] the exact same species, similar weight, same sex — it has to be an exact match.

"A little bit like having your car wheels out of alignment, it's going to affect manoeuvrability."

Ms Barsony said the donor feathers were collected from birds that did not survive their injuries or had to be euthanised.

"Unfortunately not all wildlife survive … so we keep their wings and tails and then they can go on to help other birds," she said.

Owl gets second chance

One bird of prey benefiting from her imping is a barn owl that was brought in to the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital after being hit by a car.

Ms Barsony said the owl's feathers had been badly damaged prior to the car strike, most likely from being trapped somewhere like in the wire of a chicken pen.

She said precision imping was particularly important for owls, which relied on their silent flight to catch prey.

The raptor expert was able to imp six flight feathers to the owl, which is now recovering in a larger aviary with WIRES in the Clarence Valley, where it can build up flight strength before release.