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white tail feather on grackle? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter annieB
- Start date
Katy Penland
Well-known member
Hi, Annie, and welcome to the forum!
The white feather could be a bit of "leucism" or partial albinism, which is not uncommon among birds. This is a condition where single feathers or patches of feathers are lacking their normal pigment. I've had several different spp of birds in our yard with anomalous white plumage. Here's a pinyon jay that visited every day for an entire season. Normally, they're all blue with no white, but this guy had a lot of white on him.
Hope you enjoy the forum! There are a lot of really nice and knowledgeable birding folk here.
The white feather could be a bit of "leucism" or partial albinism, which is not uncommon among birds. This is a condition where single feathers or patches of feathers are lacking their normal pigment. I've had several different spp of birds in our yard with anomalous white plumage. Here's a pinyon jay that visited every day for an entire season. Normally, they're all blue with no white, but this guy had a lot of white on him.
Hope you enjoy the forum! There are a lot of really nice and knowledgeable birding folk here.
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very boring banned member
New member
Greetings from "albinistic" Finland (ie. snow covered)! Nice observation. In the BF Gallery there is Albinism category, with also some grackle pictures in there.
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
I have a Sparrow with a white tail feather who visits regularly for food.The only one in the bunch with the white tail.
Katy Penland
Well-known member
annie burton said:
Never too young to start birding! If you say your grand-daughter could ID as to species, I'm hanging up the bins! LOL!
Katy Penland
Well-known member
OMG, Karwin, what an adorable picture! And she's not even 2 -- then. Loved the scope (which was almost bigger than she is) on the shortened tripod. Thanks for sharing.
127 lifers?! 3
I'm not hangin' up my bins!
127 lifers?! 3
I'm not hangin' up my bins!Hi Annie. I just joined to reply to your thread. The grackles are back to my corner of the Tucson area over the past several weeks. I was very surprised to see some with a snow white central section of tail (if it is one feather, it's a big feather) that contrasted quite beautifully with the black. I suppose it could have been only one bird that I have seen several times, but I assumed it was a subspecies and that I was seeing a few instead of one repeatedly. So I did a bunch of google searches and was very surprised to turn up nothing outside of your post. If I am seeing only an individual, I have a feeling there will be more of these birds in the future from the way the female birds surrounded him.
annie burton said:
hello Tarn, and welcome to the forum. I've not been on for a while, and just read your reply. The grackle I see has the white central tail feather also. I kind of think it's the same grackle, since the white feather is just left of center. Wish I was in Arizona, since that's my dream. The roadrunners really fascinate me!
See you around,
annie burton
See you around,
annie burton
Katy Penland
Well-known member
Hey, Annie, if you're ever in southern California, you'll see roadrunners there, too. My first ever was in the Santa Monica Mountains above Will Rogers State Park. Of course, they're a little more prevalent here in AZ.annie burton said:
You should definitely come out west -- the birding is fabulous!cviolett26
New member
I also have a Grackle that frequents my backyard feeder, with a central white tail section.
