Birds of many species are occasionally found with unusual white patches - or
actually lack of normal colour. Maybe white is the most common of the possible
range of colour variants. No reason to invoke a hybrid idea. The word is
leucistic. Lots of internet information on this. Such as this:
https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2018/04/why-bird-part-white-leucism
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Bill Stent
Sent: Wednesday, 17 October, 2018 7:41 AM
To:
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Odd Miner, Melbourne
Walking the dog along Kooning Creek this morning, we came across a weird
looking Miner. In a colony of Noisy Miners, it has a head just like a Noisy,
including the half black cap, but when it flies, there are large white patches
on its upper wings, as though it has white primaries. When folded it shows as a
white stripe like a Dusky Woodswallow.
Just a weird individual, some sort of leukistic (if that’s the right term), or
maybe a hybrid? The nearest Yellow-throated is about 500km away, and they don’t
have white wings either.
Bill
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