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Unusual Blue Tit from Usedom (German/Polish border) Apr 2018 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Andy Hurley
- Start date
BobbitWorm45
Well-known member
Photo difficult. The 'stripe' down the belly could be a brood patch.
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Also looks blue on my screen.....just in shadow
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Thanks for brightening Nutcracker. The broad patch is an interesting thought, thanks Bobbit! Adam, I normally see the blue as blue, but not here, even on the brightened bird. You can see it though, so it must be my perception. The Red/browns are difficult for me and now the shadowy blues. Makes bird watching more fun though!
Imagine four colour blind birders if you will:
What colour is that bird?
Black
Na, blue!
Na green!!
Keeps it interesting
Imagine four colour blind birders if you will:
What colour is that bird?
Black
Na, blue!
Na green!!
Keeps it interesting
jape
Well-known member
there is no blue tint at all that i can see. not even in the black. i have very good colour perception.
slight black streak on the white band down chest. as noted before, these feathers can get 'ruffled' and under feathers show through. for instance my local robin female has often regularly appeared to have very strong black dots and stripes on chest/belly but these are i believe where white feathers are broken or disarrayed.
colour variations do occur, although new to birding my observation of colour and tints is good and i had a blackbird that appeared over a week or two with no brown or blue or red sheen whatsoever to the black anywhere on its feathers. in diferent lights the tones were all grey. so i have no idea how pigments are missing, whether diet or genetics, but it does happen and not always the 'leucistic' or albino type. i should add that my observations of that bird were often in company of other both male and female blackbirds and from just six feet away.
slight black streak on the white band down chest. as noted before, these feathers can get 'ruffled' and under feathers show through. for instance my local robin female has often regularly appeared to have very strong black dots and stripes on chest/belly but these are i believe where white feathers are broken or disarrayed.
colour variations do occur, although new to birding my observation of colour and tints is good and i had a blackbird that appeared over a week or two with no brown or blue or red sheen whatsoever to the black anywhere on its feathers. in diferent lights the tones were all grey. so i have no idea how pigments are missing, whether diet or genetics, but it does happen and not always the 'leucistic' or albino type. i should add that my observations of that bird were often in company of other both male and female blackbirds and from just six feet away.
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Thanks Jape. Do you think this is a case of melanism then?
Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
There's plenty of blue on that bird. It looks like a pretty normal blue tit apart from the bigger than usual white area on the underparts
jape
Well-known member
it is possible there is increase in melanin, or just a loss of whatever makes up the blue in pigment however i would expect that to leave paler feathers whereas the 'cap' to me is black. then again, the underside of tail is much lighter in this picture than my regular visitors display
with fuzzy digital shots we also have to consider the verity of the camera lense and sensor and whatever processing occurs
I dont think we will ever know without more shots of back to see if blue or green feathers exist at all.
and fat paul disagrees anyway!
either way, interesting and worthy of discussion in my opinion. i meant to add before that one of the bluetits i had daily on the feeder for weeks lacked the black 'moustache' and had just a spot of black, so variations occur naturally but how, i dont know.
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Agree, there's nothing atypical here. The whitish belly with a suggestion of "Great Tit Tie" is also the rule for males, as well as females.
Peter
Ok, thanks for your input
