White-feathered American Crow (1 Viewer)

[Mac Faxer]

I spotted a white-feathered American Crow yesterday, hopped out of the car and clicked one shot before he flew off with his all-black cohorts. It appears that several of his primary feathers are pure white. Can anyone tell me the proper adjective for such a bird? Is it "melanistic" or "partial albino" or...?

(I hope the photo is attached - I'm new at this.)

Bert Kersey, Fallbrook, Southern California

 

[tyrannulet]

it is a partial albino, meaning that it has abnormally white feathers but it's whole body is not white just a portion of it.

melanistic is when the bird has an abnormal amount of black feathers.

nice find, i have yet to come across an albino bird (partial or not)

congratz

 

[James Lowther]

This is actually an area where there is a lot of disagreement over the terminology.

Some people would describe it as a partial albino.
Some would say that there is no such thing as a partial albino and describe it as leucisitic.
Some people would only use the term leucistic to describe a bird that was uniformly paler than it should be (but not white).

So take your pick!!

 

[Frenchy]

Albino's lack pigment, even in their eyes, hence there eyes are pink because you can see the blood vessels.
I don't really see how you can have a partial albino. As the famous phrase goes "it'd be like being partially pregnant".

 

[Simon M]

Albino's lack pigment, even in their eyes, hence there eyes are pink because you can see the blood vessels.
I don't really see how you can have a partial albino. As the famous phrase goes "it'd be like being partially pregnant".

?? Isn't it more common than a complete albino, to see an individual which lacks pigment in just a few groups of feathers. In british corvids pigment loss in flight feathers can be caused a parasite infestation, but I've seen Fieldfare, Reed Bunting, Redwing and Meadow Pipits, which had entirely white areas of feathers, but are not truely albino. I've always assumed this was 'partially albino', where a similar genetic mutation had occured, but had been expressed in a different way in the phenotype due to a different combination of genes present...? If albinism is just the name given to a mutation causing loss of pigment, then surely any mutation which gives rise to a loss of pigment in one area is also albinism?

 

[Evanji Axu]

I generally use "partial albino" and "leucistic" interchangeably, but I'm just a kid, so I may be wrong.

You lucky dog, seeing such a special crow!

 

[Mac Faxer]

Crow wing

Thanks for all the input. I didn't get any flight photos except this partial wing shot as the crow flew away. It's blurry but you can clearly see his three white primaries.

 

[tyrannulet]

Albino's lack pigment, even in their eyes, hence there eyes are pink because you can see the blood vessels.
I don't really see how you can have a partial albino. As the famous phrase goes "it'd be like being partially pregnant".

being albino is refering to the loss of pigment and does not always refer to the eyes. when the eyes are pink it is refered to as a true albino. when they are not it is a partial albino.

 

[Dave B Smith]

There was a post a while back by Katy Penland with a pretty good write up she forwarded on this subject. Here's the thread link for Albino/ Partial Albino/ Leucistic

 

[James Lowther]

see what i mean?....

Even though I post a heads-up that it's a thorny issue we still get people from both sides insiting they're correct!!!.....

guys,
lets face it, there is no right answer,
both versions of the terminology are in use
that's all anyone can really say...

 

[Catherine3678]

Another possibility...

Once when I saw a local bird with some white feathers, people told me that it had a virus. When I saw a black squirrel with a white tipped tail ... people told me that it probably had lost its original fur and the regrowth was white (stress) ...

Being familiar with pet birds, this black crow's wings look like they may have been "clipped" at one time, and the new feathers grew back white.

 

[mrpjdavis]

see what i mean?....
lets face it, there is no right answer,
both versions of the terminology are in use
that's all anyone can really say...

Having little better to do, I googled for online dictionaries. None of them even recognised the word the word "leucistic/leukistic". Eventually I got a link to Wikipedia. V. good article there, worth a look.

God bless pedants everywhere - especially me!

 

[steve_nova]

In my all things Corvine interest, I have come across some Crows (Corvus) with the same white feathering.

There was a young Carrion Crow living nearby with the same white feathers, sadly no picture for proof.

It would seem that this wide ranging genus though is prone to this condition as this dark-eyed juvenile Australian Raven has exactly the same condition.

Website source: http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/ravens_chough_bowerbird.htm

Steve.

 

[Farnboro John]

Albino's lack pigment, even in their eyes, hence there eyes are pink because you can see the blood vessels.
I don't really see how you can have a partial albino. As the famous phrase goes "it'd be like being partially pregnant".

Its perfectly possible, all you need is the gene mutating at the right stage of embryo development. A complete albino will result from the mutation being present from the off (i.e. from the single cell stage).

I looked at this American Crow to see if the pattern on it in any way resembled the "white-winged crows" I see fairly regularly in Britain, but it doesn't. I don't know the reason for the British variation, I remember someone stating once it is only a juvenile manifestation: but it is common enough that I wonder why its never illustrated or described in guides. Anyone shed light?

John

 

[jazzmaster221]

i was in northern utah for 28 days ..near lehi ..saw plenty of the white winged crows around .i'll post a pic soon

 

[danehower]

I spotted a white-feathered American Crow yesterday, hopped out of the car and clicked one shot before he flew off with his all-black cohorts. It appears that several of his primary feathers are pure white. Can anyone tell me the proper adjective for such a bird? Is it "melanistic" or "partial albino" or...?

(I hope the photo is attached - I'm new at this.)

Bert Kersey, Fallbrook, Southern California

What a Beauty ! Thanks for sharing the photo. Mabey he got the white feathers from perching on the power lines too much . lol3

 

[colonelboris]

I read that a study in Finland found that crows that lived mainly off human refuse tended to have more white patches than their rural cousins, although the exact reason for this remains unclear.

 

[Simon M]

I read that a study in Finland found that crows that lived mainly off human refuse tended to have more white patches than their rural cousins, although the exact reason for this remains unclear.

Just seen an article in a recent Dutch Birding. The basic jist is the the phrase 'partial albino' is utter rubbish, albinism refers to one particular genetic mutation resulting in a non-functioning protien that produces melanim, therefore it can only occur entirely or not at all. All other white-plumage abberations are actually other mutations and theres a various names for each!

 

[bkrownd]

Love those crows.

 

[Barbara Blanchard]

Another Black American Crow with White Feathers / Pictures

I spotted a white-feathered American Crow yesterday, hopped out of the car and clicked one shot before he flew off with his all-black cohorts. It appears that several of his primary feathers are pure white. Can anyone tell me the proper adjective for such a bird? Is it "melanistic" or "partial albino" or...?

(I hope the photo is attached - I'm new at this.)

Bert Kersey, Fallbrook, Southern California

o
I also have two photos I managed to snap of a Black American Crow that was around my house for several months and which I spotted a number of times on my lawn with his black cohorts.