Search Results for: leucism

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

by Amy Posted on 8 March 2014

Our time in the Florida Keys was over. We were heading home after Arthur’s turtle conference in early December, taking US1 across the Keys back to the mainland. We were speeding along Lower Matecumbe Key when I spotted a white mass perched on a telephone poll.

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

We turned around for a better look. It was a nearly all-white Turkey Vulture!

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

Oh my goodness, how unusual and beautiful! I was oohing and aahing. 🙂

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

Quite a few feathers look to have some brown on them, so this bird is not an albino. A Turkey Vulture with normal plumage would have a red head just like this bird does.

Leucistic Turkey Vulture

This beauty was not my first leucistic bird, but it was my first leucistic vulture, and my first leucistic bird in Florida. 🙂

Share the birds, share the love!
Posted in Florida, Offbeat | 5 Comments

Leucistic Robin

by Amy Posted on 29 March 2010

I saw my first leucistic American Robin on Sunday afternoon on the way to Middlefork Savanna in Lake Forest. I had just parked the car at Elawa Farm and saw the bird before I even got out of the car. I laughed because I had already seen a photo of this same bird, the day before, posted on a friend’s Facebook page. I’ve posted these on Flickr so you can click through to see them bigger.

Leucistic Robin 1/3

Leucistic Robin 3/3

Leucistic Robin 2/3

Bird Photography Weekly is a regular collection of user-submitted bird photos from all over the world. The new edition comes out every Sunday. Go have a look at this week’s submissions!

Share the birds, share the love!
Posted in Bird Photography Weekly, LCFPD, Offbeat | 4 Comments

Hirundinidaepalooza*

by Amy Posted on 6 August 2009

Last Sunday we rented a canoe for some paddling at Chain O’ Lakes State Park. It was a beautiful morning and an easy paddle.

Chain O Lakes State Park

One of the highlights was seeing large groups of swallows hunting for bugs over the still water and congregating on snags along the shore.

Swallows on a snag

Lots of swallows

Big bunch of swallows

Among them was a very light bird, a possible leucistic Tree Swallow. Leucism (sometimes incorrectly called partial-albinism) is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation. I’ve never seen a leucistic swallow before, but they’re definitely out there.

Leucistic Tree Swallow?

Leucistic Tree Swallow on snag

Have you ever seen a leucistic bird?

* The original title I wanted to use for this post is apparently the name of a porn movie. That’s some traffic I don’t need on this blog. Hirundididae is the Latin name for the Swallow family of birds. 😉

Share the birds, share the love!
Posted in Illinois | 1 Comment

Two rare cranes spotted in Nebraska

by Amy Posted on 24 February 2009

A juvenile Whooping Crane and an albino Sandhill Crane were recently spotted near the Platte River southwest of Grand Island.

Read the entire article here.

I had a look on Flickr for photos of either of these birds. I came up empty but did find this nice picture of a leucistic Sandhill Crane taken in Indiana last year: Partial Albino (leucistic) Sandhill Crane

Share the birds, share the love!
Posted in Endangered, North America | 1 Comment