hello tweets.

last week, i noticed an oddly-marked bird hanging out with a group
of talkative house finches. this bird had white cheeks and a white
spot at the base of its upper mandible. the markings were so odd
that i stopped dead in my tracks and just stared at it, not sure
of its identity. the bird became nervous and popped up to a higher
branch, where it apparently felt safer. at that point, it began
to make its cheery call notes, and i realized it was a house finch.
i then noticed that there were house finches all around it in the
surrounding branches, and they were of both genders and in various
stages of brilliant red coloring.

after seeing this bird, i have begun to wonder (yet again) why birders
refer to birds with oddly-placed patches of white (or yellow) as
"partial albinos" instead of "pied mutations," as do the aviculturists.

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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