Plucking or moulting?

[Asta]

Hi y'all! I know this subject has been posted before, but I am not doing well on my search results.

Question: How can I tell if my U2 is plucking or moulting? Joonie is 3 years old, hand-raised by me, active, healthy, has a heuuuuuuge cage, lots of toys, varied diet, gets a lot of attention, as I am determined to insure that his life is a happy, healthy one.

I've noticed that there are more feathers on the bottom of his cage than usual. Upon examination, I saw that there was a bare spot on his chest that wasn't there before. His skin is normal looking, smooth, not dry or scaly. The lost feathers are normal looking.

Is he plucking when I'm not around to see it, or is he moulting? My cockatiels and African Grey are definitely moulting, it's spring afterall. But I don't want to make an assumption and realize later that I was totally wrong and should have taken a different course of action.

I did give him a bath after finding the spot, and sprayed him with an afterbath feather conditioner, and he rewarded me with a very bad bite on my little finger.

Any advice is welcomed. And if anyone knows where I can find photos of birds moulting versus plucking, your guidance to that site is greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your help.

[Tombstone]

Bare spots are not indicative of normal molting. Here's a link to an article written by a DVM.

Feather Loss In Pet Birds