Melierax Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 I have this Red-winged Blackbird, and it seems to have some issues. From what I understand about leucism in general, #1: It is usually not symmetrical, and #2: It always is a lack of pigment in an ENTIRE feather, not just part of it. Are these assumptions correct? I'm trying to decide what has caused this. It seems to have red feathers with white tips. It is also perfectly symmetrical. It has also been this way exactly since April 14th. Any ideas? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Odd. Never seen a RWBL like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesome55dove Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Where was this bird at? Could it be possible that it is a Tricolored Blackbird? ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, lonesome55dove said: Where was this bird at? Could it be possible that it is a Tricolored Blackbird? ? Tricolored Blackbirds don't have any yellow on their wing. I believe the "tri colors" are Black, Red, and White Edited April 23, 2020 by Connor Cochrane Spelling error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesome55dove Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 15 minutes ago, Connor Cochrane said: Tricolored Blackbirds don't have any yellow on their wing. I believe the "tri colors" are Black, Red, and White Okay...it looks somewhat buffy-colored to me so I thought it might be going to transition to white. Would still like to know the location of this bird tho. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Ah, the rare 'Quadcolored Blackbird'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melierax Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 3 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said: Ah, the rare 'Quadcolored Blackbird'! That's what I thought! ? I did get an answer. Since red is a carotenoid and obtained by diet, and birds molt symmetrically, this blackbird must have messed up his diet while molting those feathers, causing the pigment to mess up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 I would guess that for some reason it's missing a row of lesser primary coverts and you're seeing the white bases to the greater primary coverts. I cannot fathom a reason for a bird to be missing that entire row on both sides, but I'm not convinced that I can see feather tips of what would have to be white feathers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirVive Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 I agree with Tony that the white and yellow appear to belong to the same feather. Cool feeder! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melierax Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 12 hours ago, Tony Leukering said: I would guess that for some reason it's missing a row of lesser primary coverts and you're seeing the white bases to the greater primary coverts. I cannot fathom a reason for a bird to be missing that entire row on both sides, but I'm not convinced that I can see feather tips of what would have to be white feathers. That was my first assumption, but if you zoom way up on the first photo the red feathers don't just end, they do turn to white. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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