Hi, This is my first post here and I'm not posting this because it's such a great photo but because of the birds rarity. This showed up at my feeders with a bunch of white-winged dove and has been ID'ed as a Leicistic Dove. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucistic It was the same size and body type as the white-wings it was with and the first thing I thought of was an Albino but not completely so the ID fits. I know I've got the bird positioned on the wrong side of the frame but there's a feeder just in front of him to the left.
I've been lurking and admiring the skills of everyone here and hope to join you with more images. C&C is always welcome on any of my images no matter where they are posted.
Forgot to mention:
Olympus E-30 - Hand Held Sigms 50-500 @ 390mm ISO100
Hi Don, big welcome to BPN. Thanks for sharing this rare bird and agree on your self critique of the bird in the wrong side of the far,e. Exposure is right on, looking forward to more from you.
I'll copy this thread to the Avian ID gallery, so it can be enjoy there.
Welcome to BPN Don. Leucism is a genetic variation so the "ID" here is still a White-winged Dove. It does seem to be a rare variation based on the frequency leucism is seen in the wild. This could be because it really is rare, or it produces some sort of very high mortality rate in carriers. I suspect the former. Also leucistic individuals may have a tough time finding a mate and therefore passing on the genetic variation to the next generation.
Rare bird- Leucistic Dove
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