It might look like a regular robin, but with frosty white splotches on its head or back. Thus, when 3 people living in neighboring towns in NH reported leucistic juncos to us on about the same day, we found this very interesting. Recorded by Robert Bethel and Bob McGuire.BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.Producer: John Kessler; Managing Producer: Jason Saul; Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone© 2018 Tune In to Nature.org May 2018/2019 Narrator: Michael SteinID# leucism-01-2018-05-09 leucism-01https://www.thespruce.com/bird-leucism-387342. We saw a leucistic American Robin last spring. I just had a leucistic Grackle at my feeders! Albinism has a different origin, too: problems with an enzyme called tyrosinase. Lesser Canada Goose in the northeastern US, https://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/08/abnormal-coloration-in-birds-melanin-reduction/, Scarlet Tanagers are bright red – but this one is yellow, A Cerulean-like song variant of Black-throated Blue Warbler, How to draw an owl – now online at Audubon, Webinar with Georgia Audubon - How to draw a Hummingbird, Interactive online talk with the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, CT: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, BirdWatching magazine Webinar - Understanding Feathers, Friday, June 4, 2021 - Friday, June 11, 2021. We have watched the mother sit on three perfect little eggs and now we are enjoying how she is constantly feeding the baby birds. Bold indicates groups mentioned or illustrated in the Sibley Guide. They seem to arrive and leave together for the most part. I am not a big fan of sparrows but this one is quite beautiful. A bird with abnormal white feathers, like this American Robin, may have a genetic condition called leucism. The American Robin is 25-28 cm (10-11 in) long. ###Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. It has gray upperparts and head, and orange underparts, usually brighter in the male; the similarity between this coloring and that of the smaller and unrelated European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) led to its common name. Last weekend, I noticed a flock of birds eating the cherries. We are looking forward to seeing these babies learn to fly! obs. About leucistic birds and abnormal plumages. After a while, the baby robins get more feathers and fly off from the nest. Robins are rarely seen or heard during midsummer (July-August) when they are moulting and become rather retiring. They have white flashes around their eyes and a white spot on the back above the tail. Welcome to Stokes Birding Blog where we will bring you great information about birds and birding, bird photography, feature Lillian's beautiful bird photos, update you on what's happening with birds and keep you in touch with what's going on with the Stokes. I saw a black-blacked robin, 3-20-12, in Clarence, NY. they are the size of a robin and have an orange-red front. The main body is brown. Thanks for the explanation. I live Wisconsin in my back yard a beautiful ordinary robin visits me she(I believe) is dark on top and the reddish-orange belly with white patches here and there with a complete white tail. Birds have two types of melanin pigment, one black to gray and the other reddish brown. I live in Dodge City, Ks. The hungry speckled American Robin above doesn’t show the robin’s typically red breast. Between their beak and the chest, they are brown with whiteish spots/speckles. Leucism prevents pigments from reaching some — or sometimes all — of a bird’s feathers. The other possibility is Eurasian Blackbird, which is a thrush very similar in size and shape to American Robin, and it has been recorded several times in eastern Canada. Last Sat I had a flock of birds I’ve never seen before.Size maybe a tad larger than a robin, and looked like one, only was all black, with a BROWN breast. The Birds of Kentucky. I have recently began seeing a leusistic white headed sparrow hanging around my feeders. Birds of Interior west average palest, birds of Atlantic Canada (and Appalachians) average darkest, with Pacific Northwest also quite dark. Variation is slight and clinal, involving overall plumage saturation, prominence of tail spots, and very small differences in size. What are they? It has a light grey back, a somewhat darker bill and a belly that had much more white and much less rufous than I’ve seen on other birds. You may even see robins that look like the birds shown here. So there is simply no way to be sure whether an odd-looking robin is from another region, or just a variant of the local population. Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. I have identified scattered individuals in the northeast and up to three together among the large winter robin flocks at Cape May, NJ. I think we have a leucistic chickadee in our yard since October. Our new field guide begins each species account with a thorough description of that bird's shape. We often get people sending us bird photos to identify, and nothing mystifies people more than seeing birds with strange white blotches. To feeders near you my cottage on the internet and found a couple of other photos besides this one quite. Us by Dianne Connolly of NH 25, 2016 American robins a few on our juniper.! Out what these two conditions are and how they affect birds time shelled! Of birds eating the cherries white spot on the north shore of Prince Edward.! 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