There are various kinds of plumage abnormalities recorded in
birds, albinism amongst them. Complete albinism is the total lack of
pigment in feathers and tissue (i.e. pink eyes, legs, etc), with partial
albinism the situation as described for John’s blackbird (though pied is
also appropriate). Other forms of plumage abnormalities include leucism
(lack of certain pigments, leading to ‘washed out’ plumage where
other pigments predominate, possibly the case with the YTBC at Wamboin), xanthochroism
(replacement of certain pigments with yellow – apparently rare),
melanism, etc. There is a very thorough paper on the subject by B.L.Sage
in the journal British Birds from
(I think) 1963. I published a review of the incidence of albinism and
melanism in Aussie birds some years go (see Lepschi, B.J. (1990). The incidence
of albinism and melanism in Australian birds: a review of the literature. Corella, 14: 82-85). I haven’t
got it to hand at the moment but from memory Blackbirds featured quite highly,
along with the Australian Magpie. Probably no coincidence that the
species for which these abnormalities were most often recorded were common, familiar
birds frequently seen around human habitation (therefore with a higher chance
of being seen and reported). Still, these abnormalities have been recorded
in all sorts of groups, from waders to treecreepers to parrots to
honeyeaters. The most spectacular I have seen was a blackbird in which
the wing feathers (primaries) alternated black and white.
Brendan
-----Original Message-----
From:
[
Sent: Wednesday,
August 10, 2005 10:21 AM
To: ;
Subject: [canberrabirds]
[UNCLASSIFIED]RE: [canberrabirds] A Blackbird called Pinto
pied is correct
albino is almost always an all white
animal, often with pink or blue eyes depending on the animal. Albino is a
complete loss of pigment.
From: John
Layton [
Sent: Tuesday, 9
August 2005 8:28 PM
To: chat line
Subject: [canberrabirds] A
Blackbird called Pinto
"Geoffrey, a very similar pattern to a blackbird that was
regularly seen in
our garden pre the fires, but in that case only one or two of the primary
feathers were white."
Maybe I should pull in my wise, wooly little head. See, I'm currently
drafting an Odd Ob for Canberra Bird Notes that features a male
Common Blackbird that had a heavily white-streaked crown, nape and mantle.
Amazingly, Pinto (as we called him) and his missus built a nest in our ... but
no, that would spoil the story. So, you'll just have to wait until / if it's
published.
So, could someone tell me the correct _expression_ for this partial white
plumage. Partial albinism?
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