Crow ID, Dublin, Ireland (1 Viewer)

[Bonnán]

Hello,
I've had this, I presume, Hooded Crow hanging around my garden for the past few days. Can anyone confirm ID? Is the odd colouring due to leucism or something else? Thanks

 

[Deb Burhinus]

It is a leucistic Hooded Crow Bonnan. (I’ve not seen a hybrid of this combination ie all grey but doesn’t mean to say hybridity can be ruled out in birds from these Irish populations even if there’s no obvious expression of hybridity in the plumage so theoretically it could be a leucistic hybrid!)

Here’s another grey Hoodie from Russia

https://todaysbird.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F630649566483628032

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Can anyone confirm ID?

I see you have checked back a few times yesterday and again this morning since I posted yesterday but haven’t responded so I guess therefore that you are not satisfied with the ID?

Hopefully someone else can help you 👍

 

[Bonnán]

Thanks very much for your help Deb. I'm a bit all over the place here at the moment and I have only just sat down to respond to you now. I am very happy with your ID as it was more or less what I thought - I just wanted someone to confirm it. I had never seen this 'washed out' type of leucism before and it was interesting to see how my bird compared to your Russian example.

Thanks again

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Hi, no worries, I thought you were waiting for some other comments.

To be honest, I am surprised nobody else was able to confirm this for you as well - unusual for BF!

 

[CARERY]

It's a stunning looking bird, wow! These mottled flight feathers, great! However, I wonder how to exclude a Carrion Crow here? On range alone?

 

[Andy Adcock]

It's a stunning looking bird, wow! These mottled flight feathers, great! However, I wonder how to exclude a Carrion Crow here? On range alone?

A very pertinant question to which I suspect you already give the answer.

 

[Nutcracker]

It's a stunning looking bird, wow! These mottled flight feathers, great! However, I wonder how to exclude a Carrion Crow here? On range alone?

AFAIK a few Carrion Crows do get to eastern Ireland, so the potential is there.

This bird does show (faintly!) a darker head / hood compared with the body, which would fit leucistic Hoodie better than leucistic Carrion.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

It's a stunning looking bird, wow! These mottled flight feathers, great! However, I wonder how to exclude a Carrion Crow here? On range alone?

Apart from range (Carrion Crow largely absent from Ireland as a breeding species so perhaps less likely although there are small clusters of breeders and of course ‘vagrant’ occurrence). However, I think in this form of ‘diluted’ plumage, you see the shadow of the normal plumage arrangement of Hooded Crow (plain steely grey mantle, subtle darker feathering on the head/nape) and neat contrast division between the flight feathers and lower back/belly. There is also a contrast in the feather condition imo, the flight feathers showing growth bars from the weaker flight feathers as well as more extensive fading and abrasion. The OP’s flight feathers look also to be leucistic too (as well as ‘pastel’). Partial leucism in crows tends to result patchy black and white plumage or, if a diluted form, with be evenly pale with no organised pattern of coverage if the original colour is black all over, because in diluted (chlorochroism) plumage all the pigments are there but consistently paler (hence the ghost pattern still remaining). Leucistic feathers sensu stricto are the total absence of pigment, resulting in white feathers and where you get a much more random abberation of white plumage areas.

An excellent paper here


EDIT; I posted the wrong link earlier, I meant to post this one which is better and has some images

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52afb651e4b0c8fba4ecb28a/t/5c633ea3104c7b07ad5254a9/1550007979018/Grouw+Color+Aberrations.pdf

(As I noted, this doesn’t need rule out the possibility of hybridity imo somewhere in the lineage since not all hybrids express obvious hybridity in their plumage.)

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

For me the problem would be that many leucistic crows show a slightly darker head, therefore I think you can not 100% exclude a carrion crow or a hybrid. However, what also points to hooded in my opinion is that wings and tail are clearly paler than the body plumage (reverse to what a hooded crow should show- but fitting to hooded in sofar as there is a contrast betweeen wing and tail on the one hand and body plunage on the other hand)
I do not recall seing this in leucistic carrion crows.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

However, what also points to hooded in my opinion is that wings and tail are clearly paler than the body plumage (reverse to what a hooded crow should show- but fitting to hooded in sofar as there is a contrast betweeen wing and tail on the one hand and body plunage on the other hand)
I do not recall seing this in leucistic carrion crows.

I think exactly the point I just made 🙃

 

[Xenospiza]

A bad picture of a "pastel" Carrion Crow from Germany:

Bemerkung zur Beobachtung - www.ornitho.de

I think this also shows what the previous posters noted about the wing colour; note the very dark face!

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

I think exactly the point I just made 🙃

Yes- you´re right... I took too much time and didn´t check before finally posting