Albino Hawk??? Minneapolis Minnesota (1 Viewer)

[jmontagu13]

On my way to go view swans at a local stretch of open river, I saw a bright white bird in a tree from the highway and thought maybe it was a Snowy Owl. After getting off the highway and onto the local road, I was able to find it again and got a few pictures from a distance. I am unable to identify and the only thing I can come up with is an Albino Red Tailed Hawk.

Can anyone identify?

 

[nartreb]

It's got a red tail, so... yeah.

(Except it's not "albino" - it's got dark beak, possibly dark eyes, and red tail. The more general term is "leucistic".)

(If you Google for "albino hawk" or "leucistic hawk" you'll find lots of similar examples; one from Ohio in 2008 looks like it could be the same bird.)

 

[Peter C.]

Hi jmontagu13,

Welcome to birdforum.net!

I agree with narteb - a Red-tail, but not albino.

Such birds are pretty unusual, so that's a really interesting thing to get a photo of. I find it particularly interesting that the red pigments is still available for the bird, but not of the brown; presumably, these are produced by different metabolic pathways.

Peter

 

[jmontagu13]

Thank you both for identifying the bird. It was exciting to see it as I knew it wasn't common and I've never seen anything like it before. I'll have to head out this weekend and see if I can get lucky and find him in the same area again.

 

[Lisa W]

Wow, very nice shot of this hawk. You should think of putting it in our gallery for more people to see.

 

[AlexC]

Wow what a stunner! Gorgeous looking leucistic Red-tailed Hawk!

 

[ceasar]

Great picture! It seems to be doing OK too what with it's coloration. With that solid red tail it must be at least 2 years old and going on three. Keep watching for it.

Bob

 

[KC Foggin]

What a spectacular find! Beautifully captured as well and I agree, you should post it in the Gallery. It will be treat for all the photographers

 

[jmontagu13]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have posted a couple of pictures in the gallery.