7 November 2023
Final month at Frick Park Charity Kheshgi and I noticed no less than 3 birds with odd white feathers of their plumage, a situation that labels them “leucistic.”
Leucism refers to an abnormality within the deposition of pigment in feathers. There’s some confrontation as as to whether the situation is genetic or led to by way of pigment cells that had been broken throughout construction. Regardless of the purpose, the situation can lead to a discount in all forms of pigment, inflicting light or muted colours on all the chook. Or the situation could cause abnormal patches of white, and birds with those white patches are occasionally described as “pied” or “piebald.”
This commonplace grackle had white feather patches on his head that weren’t uniform back and forth.
The circle of white dashes round his eyes point out his eyelashes are white. (Do you know birds’ eyelashes are changed feathers?)
In early October we noticed a white-faced chipping sparrow …
… and a leucistic American robin in the midst of the month.
It sort of feels that leucism is extra commonplace in robins than in different species — or at any price I see extra of them. Right here’s one who used to be photographed in Missouri.
This leucistic male red-winged blackbird, additionally observed in Missouri, looks as if a brand new species!
Leucistic birds are memorable however are they turning into extra commonplace? It sort of feels so as to me however I can’t discover a clinical learn about that solutions query.
In the meantime, learn extra about odd white feather stipulations at Audubon Information: Albinism and Leucism.
(footage by way of Charity Kheshgi and by way of Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren by way of Flickr Ingenious Commons license. credit are within the captions)