colour abnormalities RFI

[Gary Davidson <>]

Last week I was at Cape Tourville on the east coast of Tasmania.  I was looking down on a small island about 200m offshore.  200-300 Pacific Gulls were resting on the island.  A White-bellied Sea-Eagle passed by and all the birds rose up into the air.  As I watched them, I noticed one had completely white upper wing surfaces.  The back was black, but the wings were white!  I watched it circling for a few minutes and in all other respects it appeared to be identical to the other Pac Gulls present.  I then looked through the flock a bit more and was even more surprised to see a second oddly coloured gull.  This one was white on the upper surface of one wing only!  The left wing was normally coloured!  Is it likely that these two birds were related?  Is this sort of abnormality passed on from one generation to the next?  I know that colour aberrations are not all that uncommon, but aasymmetricalaberrations?!  Any thoughts?

 

Gary Davidson

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