Donate SIGN UP

odd looking blackbird

Avatar Image
tigerlily11 | 22:18 Tue 19th Apr 2011 | Twitching & Birdwatching
18 Answers
Hello.
I was sitting in my conservatry yesterday and saw on the shed roof a blackbird.
Everything about it was a male blackbird, orange beak and so on.
But I noticed that it's head and white feathers round the cheek areas. It looked almost like a Miner bird. I know the have white wattles on the cheeks as I used to own one.
Can any one tell me is this some sort of mutation or something else. Maybe a sort of blackbird not common in the UK.
Thanks for your time.
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 18 of 18rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by tigerlily11. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Question Author
sorry that should be 'had white feathers.'
-- answer removed --
We have a blackbird in our garden, he has white feathers too!............he's been here for the last four years, he's so handsome!..........
-- answer removed --
-- answer removed --
Blackbirds can have white feathers.
http://www.rspb.org.u...ackbird/feathers.aspx
Question Author
Well as it was a while ago say about 30 years I forgot how to spell MYNAH ok.
Would u care to explain Leucism to us thickies.
Yes Welsh he is lovely but i haven't ever seen one like him before.
There are two possibilities you could check
Ring Ouzel http://www.rspb.org.u.../ringouzel/index.aspx
Semi Albino Blackbird http://www.uksafari.com/blackbirds2.htm
-- answer removed --
tigerlily, I can not think of a iIner bird (or even a Mynah bird) with white wattles. Was this a mutant?

Mutant blackbirds are quite common.
http://www.google.co....b=wi&biw=1383&bih=890
It seems I have trouble spelling Miner too. lol
Sorry MIlvus, you can not get a semi-albino anything. Your link is mistaken. The pied blackbirds around are indeed affected by leucism, but there are proper albino blackbirds where the melanin is missing.
Semi or partial albinism is prevalent in birds, and is characterised by a lack of malanin in patches as shown in the pictures in the second link I provided. Leucism is a separate condition generally exhibited by an overall reduction in pigmentation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_birds
-- answer removed --
The term semi albino is used in the text above the bird with the white neck markings in the second link I gave. This picture seems to be close to Tigerlilly's description.
-- answer removed --
Hi Tigerlily, its lovely to see common birds with different colour markings is'nt it. We have a black and white, almost spotted Jackdaw, around our village, he's been here for the last three years, and is very spoiled by everyone (we all feed him) just because he's different!!
Question Author
Hi and ty to every one that has answered. I looked at him through the binoculars yesterday cos I thought he was missing the feathers round his face but it looks to white to be that. He is a lovely little soul though.

1 to 18 of 18rss feed

Do you know the answer?

odd looking blackbird

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.