UK, Devon. Coal Tit with Melanism ? (1 Viewer)

[digitalbirdy]

At a mid Devon nature reserve I was photographing birds at a feeding station and along with Great Tits, Blue Tits and Robins, were lots of Coal Tits and this dark bodies tit?
It behaved in a similar way to the other Coal Tits and was a similar size. Is it a Coal Tit with Melanism or is it a different species?

 

[phil baber]

I think it's a Coal Tit which has lost a lot of belly feathers...

ps That dark region, I believe, is its actual skin...

 

[P.Sunesen]

Agree, could be the phenomena called 'feather bite' where the feathers have broken off causing the dark grey bases to be exposed.
Whether this is caused by infection of mites, or has been caused by heavy wear because of grinding the plumage against something hard is debatable.

As a taxidermist with more than 35 years of experience I have seen this exclusively on carcasses of hole nesting species such as tits, nuthatches, sparrows and woodpeckers.

Last week, for the first time in my life I spotted a live singing male Great Tit with two large 'feather bitten' areas on both sides of the breast merging with the central black ventral streak to the effect that it looked practically all black underneath.

Peter

 

[KenM]

Here's another melanistic ''type'' individual, currently and for the last two months, a ''multiple'' daily visitor to the feeders.

 

[RayMurray]

Here is another - taken also in January - the ringers reckoned that the outer contour feathers had been lost revealing the black, fluffier insulating feathering underneath

 

[P.Sunesen]

Here is another - taken also in January - the ringers reckoned that the outer contour feathers had been lost revealing the black, fluffier insulating feathering underneath

Exactly. Only the feathers aren't really "lost" but rather broken at their bases,

Had they been "lost", they'd surely grow out again pretty soon........

 

[P.Sunesen]

Here's another melanistic ''type'' individual, currently and for the last two months, a ''multiple'' daily visitor to the feeders.

This is a very instructive proof of "feather bite".

 

[phil baber]

Informative! And educational! Feather-bite. Taken on board!