A regular visitor to South Platte Park just sent me a photo of what I believe is leucistic house finch from his nearby Littleton feeder. That's my assumption from the photo, please alert me if I'm overlooking some escaped domestic or foreign exotic! Sure, it's no arctic pink 'seagull', but still pretty, pink, and rare! lol. Gorgeous bird is all white except for the typical red finch coloring. It does have dark pigment in the eyes, legs, and bill, AND per the homeowner, the red coloring has been on the increase over the past few months. A quick search led me to an interesting article from Project Feeder Watch about the pigmentation variation in house finches, and lessons on the differences between leucism and albinism.
pimentation article: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/HoufinColorVariants.htm photo of the finch: http://www.facebook.com/SouthPlattePark#!/photo.php?fbid=467750794862&set=a.58455394862.64391.47305639862 As an aside, my folks had a house finch visitor the past two years at their feeder in Ft Collins with no pigment on the head feathers, so it looked like a miniture bald eagle. Fascinating to see how some pigments are being expressed and others not! Skot Latona Littleton -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
