I first caught a glimpse of this bird a few weeks ago while he was hopping around in the back yard. Then I saw him again at the bird feeder but both times he came and went too quickly for me to capture a photo. I didn't know what kind of bird this was, only that it was something I had not seen before. Yesterday he visited the feeder again and I had my camera nearby to get the above photo. I sought some identification help from a local bird-watcher's site and learned a new word. This is not a new species but a genetic pigment variation known as leucism. The bird above is a leucistic Fox Sparrow. Leucism is a little like albinism but not quite the same. For the technical details I'll refer you to this article in Wikipedia. The small photo to the right is a normal Fox Sparrow. |
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Saturday, December 21, 2013
Leucistic Fox Sparrow
Labels:
bird,
Fox Sparrow,
Leucism,
leucistic,
Vic West,
Victoria BC Canada
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4 comments:
Fantastic for me completely unknown bird. I like your bird shots. Very clear.
A striking looking fellow!
Nice looking bird!
Wow, so cool!
A 'brindled' bird.
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