more Sydney Blue sparrow photos

[Andrew Taylor <>]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:13:49PM +1000, Peter Shute wrote:
> Can you tell me why the possibility of this bird having fallen into
> some blue stuff has been discounted or not considered?

I'm sure its the first thing that comes to most people's mind.  We've all
seen birds with stained plumage.  I thought the distribution of the
colouring appears too regular for an accidental event and maybe he
sparrow had been captured and stained deliberately

Its notable that Richard Prum thinks the bird may be an unusual mutation.
He know a lot about the topic, e.g.:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6706/abs/396028a0.html
But of course he's only seen photos.

Andrew