white black bird (1 Viewer)

D

dazvti

New member

• Jul 11, 2011

• #1

hello, ive recently seen a white blackbird in my garden, and i was wondering how rare they are? i believe there was two of them but only seem to see the one anymore. thanks

 

O

Odonate

Well-known member

• Jul 11, 2011

• #2

dazvti said:

hello, ive recently seen a white blackbird in my garden, and i was wondering how rare they are? i believe there was two of them but only seem to see the one anymore. thanks

Click to expand...

Not particularly uncommon - I probably see about one a year that is at least partially white. All white is reasonably rare.

 

T

Trisha

Active member

• Jul 12, 2011

• #3

I've never seen an all white one. We get the occasional bird with white feathers here and there.

 

_pauls

Well-known member

• Jul 13, 2011

• #4

Welcome to the forum.

dazvti said:

i believe there was two of them but only seem to see the one anymore.

Click to expand...

As mentioned above it is not uncommon to see partially white blackbirds (or other species for that matter), totally white are rarer but still not unheard of. Your bird(s) may be albino or partial albino where there is no pigment at all giving a white appearance, or leucistic where there is some pigment but it is very faint, probably appearing a very pale brown. If you take a look at this page you'll see some examples.

Sadly the fact that there were two and now only one is however a fairly typical story when it comes to albinos of many creatures - generally they stand out like a sore thumb which makes them vulnerable to predators.

 

Last edited: Jul 13, 2011

Daniel Martin

Well-known member

• Jul 18, 2011

• #5

This rather handsome fella was noted locally by a friend of mine in Derbyshire.
Dont know if he still survives but I havent seen another like this before.

 

Attachments

• 
  Ken Dornings Blackbird (Medium).JPG

  148 KB · Views: 140

skatebirder

Well-known member

• Jul 20, 2011

• #6

We had an all-white blackbird for two or three years here in Southampton (near the edge of the Lower Test Marshes). I often seen partial albino ones, usually with just a few white feathers. This all-white bird seemed to be able to fend for itself, despite the many black Blackbirds in its environment, not to mention the Sparrowhawks, Kestrels, Peregrines, Buzzards, Hobbies, and the occasional Hen Harriers, Marsh Harriers, Red Kites and Ospreys (okay - maybe Ospreys wouldn't mistake a Whitebird for a whitebait).
Hmm - that's not a bad list of raptors...maybe my local patch is worth it after all

David

 

Mike Crawley

Emeritus President at Burnage Rugby Club

• Jul 21, 2011

• #7

IIRC Calke Abbey (nr Derby) has a large selection of albino and partially albino birds in a taxidermy collection.

 

W

White Woodpecker

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #8

I love the way these birds stick out from the rest, especially on a green coloured background - the biggest problem they have is surely the predators.