White Birds - photos and discussion

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:00 pm

Was that in Wattle Valley? Looks a bit like this one from a couple of years ago, but with a bit more white.

Anthornis-melanura_13414.jpg
Anthornis-melanura_13414.jpg (67.41 KiB) Viewed 6692 times
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Glen Webber
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Glen Webber » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:35 pm

Yep, at the bottom "Hihi feeder".
One of the DoC rangers did tell us they have had quite a few "partial albino" Bellbird around.

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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:40 pm

Inbreeding...? ;)
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simon.fordham
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby simon.fordham » Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:02 pm

There is another possibility.

Although by no means common, I have seen a number of passerines on Tiri, particularly bellbirds and stitchbirds, that have feather loss around the head. This can range from a few missing feathers around the face to being entirely bald. It is my understanding that the culprit is most likely mites.

The red-crowned parakeets, however, do commonly exhibit such feather loss. I have seen a small number of these parakeets with yellow feathers around the head and I understand that this is typical of new feather growth after disease.

So perhaps this is what we are seeing here, except that the new feathers are white.

Simon
Last edited by simon.fordham on Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Glen Webber
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Glen Webber » Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:42 am

Thats an interesting idea Simon. I wonder if similar effects have been seen in NZ passerines in other locations?

I'm also curious if island populations are more predisposed to unusual plumage colours.
Thinking the white Kiwi that pop up in birds from LBI stock ...

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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Jan » Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:09 am

This may be something else entirely but each winter I notice Silvereyes at our feeders with feathers missing around the base of the beak. I thought it was mites which are probably more virulent when birds are having a tough time in cold weather. It can look as though the skull is getting exposed from the beak backwards.

Now I wonder if it could be something to do with sugar-water feeding, though I try to make it a very weak solution.
Maybe this is why it is seen in Bellbirds and Hihi? They are given supplementary sugar-water, I believe. I haven't seen it in Bellbirds here though.
Or I wonder if feeding on meshbags of fat etc, rubs off their feathers as they push the beak through the gaps in the mesh?
But we don't use plastic mesh, only elastic butcher's bags. Nevertheless these have a synthetic component too.

Whatever the reason, I haven't seen the feathers grow back white, unless the birds it happens to all die before the winter's end?
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Byrd » Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:26 pm

Glen Webber wrote:Thats an interesting idea Simon. I wonder if similar effects have been seen in NZ passerines in other locations?

I'm also curious if island populations are more predisposed to unusual plumage colours.
Thinking the white Kiwi that pop up in birds from LBI stock ...

Cheers,
Glen.

the white kiwi on Little Barrier are the result of a white one being introduced there from the mainland in the early 1900s
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Glen Webber » Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:04 am

Thanks Byrd. That answers that one.

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Glen.
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sun May 13, 2012 2:18 pm

In 2005 I photographed this NZ pigeon.
NBF_Hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae_0536.jpg
NBF_Hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae_0536.jpg (77.82 KiB) Viewed 6536 times


Last year I tracked it down again. Well, it was in exactly the same place so I assume it was the same one, but if it is, it has become even whiter.
Hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae-16162.jpg
Hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae-16162.jpg (101.38 KiB) Viewed 6536 times


As if it that wasn't amazing enough to find it (or another) in the same place after six years, while looking for it one day a white tui went past. I've been watching a/the white tui in this area for about as long as the kereru. When I first found them I expected they wouldn't last long. Guess I was wrong.
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Re: Leucistic Birds - photos and discussion

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:22 am

The white black swan shown earlier in this thread ( viewtopic.php?f=3&t=247&p=1360) was at the Taupo water front yesterday as I drove past.

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