Marv Breece reported a partially albinistic or leucistic Red-winged
Blackbird:

"Thought it might be time for a gyr to show, so I headed for the West
90 on the Samish FLats. What I saw there instead was a probable
leucistic RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. Howard Armstrong and Keith and Jan
Wiggers and I pondered over the identity of this bird. The plumage
resembled a Brambling, but it was too large, and when the bird flew,
the red wing patches were evident. The overall size of the bird and the
bill fit for red-wing. Black head and upper breast, white tail with
black tip. Orangy-brown below with dark streaking. The bird was with a
large flock of blackbirds along the road barely north of the West 90."

I just wanted to add that birds colored just like this seem to be a
fairly common mode of aberrant plumage in male Red-wings. I have seen
two that looked like this in Washington over the past 35 years, we have
one just like it in the Slater Museum collection, and Ruth Sullivan
photographed one something like it a few years ago
(http://www2.ups.edu/biology/museum/albinoRWBL.jpg). I have also heard
of a few others. They have in common a sharp transition between dark
breast and light belly with an orange cast and prominent streaks, and a
white tail with black tip, sometimes patterned like a longspur. This is
really quite a surprising combination, so it's interesting that it
recurs this often. I would have thought several genes would be involved
in that many aspects of the coloration, but perhaps they are all linked
in this mutant. It certainly makes the relationship between blackbirds
and orioles more understandable.


Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
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