As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 12 May 2013

Leucistic chaffinch near Balmoral

Leucistic Chaffinch in Aberdeenshire

One of our readers, Ian Cairns, took this image of a bird, probably a chaffinch, apparently showing signs of leucism. Mr Cairns spotted this bird near Loch Muick on the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire in May (NB, still snowing!).

Leucism (or Leukism) 
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures. 

Images courtesy of Ian Cairns.
This is the third leucistic chaffinch we have a record of, following one from Kent and another from Scotland.

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