Lucy the leucistic robin

Enderby resident, Donlea McCombs and a friend were watching a flock of robins in her backyard while they enjoyed a visit over a cup of coffee on February 23rd. Every year, these birds came to feast on the berries on her Mountain Ash tree. While other species preferred the birdfeeder, the robins often got drunk on the berries and were a great source of amusement to Donlea and her family and friends.

That particular day, they noticed a robin with very strange coloring – it had an almost completely white head and patches of white on its wings and leg. Donlea grabbed her camera and took this photo of the unusual bird.

Bird specialist and associate professor of biology at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, Andrew Dolby, says the white head is a symptom of a condition known as leucism, which is characterized by reduced pigmentation in some of the cells of animals and humans. It is not albinism.

Dolby says he has also seen this condition in a crow, a common grackle and a red-winged blackbird. Leucism is a rare condition and develops while the bird grows in its egg. The gene that controls skin pigment cells turns on in some cases but not in others, the result being normal coloring in some parts of the bird and patches of white in others. The bird’s health is not affected but it may make finding a mate somewhat problematic since feather coloring is a major factor in how birds perceive one another. It also makes the bird more visible to predators.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/042009/04032009/456474/index_html

They say we learn something new every day. Thanks, Donlea for sending the photo.