Sandhill with white feathering

[david cramer]

I'm curious if anyone knows why this Sandhill has white feathering mixed in with the normal grays. Certainly not a common sight. This is a heavily cropped image.

[John Chardine]

I'm not sure how much white a Sandhill Crane is supposed to show David. However, I can say that individual animals sometimes show more white than normal and the "condition" is called "leucism"; not to be confused with "albinism" which is a complete lack of pigment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism

Have you considered various plumages in this species, perhaps related to age or time of year?

[Steve Maxson]

I think leucism is probably what is going on with this bird and John has it right. To answer John's question, based on my experience studying this species, sandhills normally don't show this pattern of white feathers at any age or time of year so this indeed is an unusual bird.