Albino Common Crane with large red head? China (1 Viewer)

xuky.summer · Mar 17, 2020

My friend recently recorded this crane at Shaanxi Province. It moves with the Common Crane. The red area of its head is very large. Some people think it has the gene of the Sandhill Crane. I think it is an albino Common Crane.
Thank you.

Joern Lehmhus · Mar 17, 2020

xuky.summer said:
My friend recently recorded this crane at Shaanxi Province. It moves with the Common Crane. The red area of its head is very large. Some people think it has the gene of the Sandhill Crane. I think it is an albino Common Crane.
Thank you.

Hi Xuky, I agree this is a leucistic common crane. size and shape are like common crane. The red area looks larger than usual, because the black pigment is missing not only in most feathers but also in the skin.
Normally a part of the nacked patch of skin of the head is black and a part is red; see here:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0xgEubCha6I/maxresdefault.jpg
but when the black is missing, like in your bird , the whole naked patch appears red.

Jörn

xuky.summer · Mar 18, 2020

Hi Jörn
Thank you,learn a lot.

stevethehydra · Mar 18, 2020

Agreed with Joern's analysis, but it's interesting just how much this crane resembles plumage-wise the white type of Canada x domestic Greylag Goose hybrids!

Albino Common Crane with large red head? China (1 Viewer)

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