Albino barn Swallow

[gary rouleau]

I felt so sorry for this little guy, every time he flew the others would attack him. He was extremely nervous so getting close was really tough.

Maxwell wildlife refuge, Maxwell, New Mexico.

Canon markIII
Lens 600mm + 1.4x

ISO 320 f/8.0 at 1/640

Cheers
gary

[Judd Patterson]

Gary, this is a beautiful image of a leucistic Barn Swallow. Your story about the other birds not accepting it is also quite touching. I'm not sure why he is holding a feather, but that just adds to the story that you are telling here! There are some artifacts from either a significant crop or heavy noise reduction...maybe those could be reduced depending upon their source. Nice work!

[Doug Brown]

Hey Gary! Thanks for the story that accompanies the image. The feather in the beak makes the image for me. I'm no ornithologist, but I think this a leucystic rather than an albino bird. I'm sure the experts will chime in.

[gary rouleau]

You are both right, my mistake. The funny thing was that he was pulling his feathers out. I think psychoanalysis may be needed.

gary

[John Chardine]

Yes, Doug and Judd are correct. Leucistic is the term used to describe a bird that shows some, but much reduced pigment. This is a classic example where the dark feathers are a light beige colour, but there's still pigment there, and the eye is dark.

Another term used to describe this is "Isabelline", and the origin of this is unclear- look it up in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabelline_%28colour%29

[John Chardine]

Here's a classic Isabelline form of the Gentoo Penguin, made at Cuverville Island, Antarctica, 2003. All the bits that should be black are beige. An Isabelline form of the Adelie Penguin bred succesfully with a normal mate for many years at Palmer Station, Antarctica. I remember seeing the bird in 1997 and she looked good.