Tweets,

Bruce is not a subscriber but asked that I forward this to the group. It is
interesting reading and I would wonder whether this is reserved to a
geographic area (in this case California).

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA
dschone8 at donobi.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Deuel [mailto:BDEUEL at dfg.ca.gov]
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 1:27 PM
To: dschone8 at donobi.net
Subject: "Red"-footed Ring-bill


Hello Doug,
I don't subscribe to Tweeters so perhaps you could forward this reply.
I have seen birds such as this here in California several times since
1973. The first time was on the edge of Humboldt Bay, and there were 2
or 3 birds present. Several very good birders were looking at these at
the time and we concluded they were erythristic, that is tending to red,
as in leucistic, tending to white. Notice that the bird in the first of
the 2 photos also has a slight pink tinge to the under part feathers.

Just 2 weeks ago I saw 2 similar birds, again in Humboldt Bay, and only
3-4 days ago I found one here in Redding, Shasta County. The latter
bird also had pink-tinged underparts.

I believe this is a "normal abberation" if such a term can be coined.
In other words, it's a phenomenon that is somewhat frequently seen, but
is definitely outside the expected parameters of plumage. I suspect
genetics or hormones as the cause, but I've seen no literature.

Cheers,
Bruce Deuel
Redding, California

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