A reader photographed this American Robin in her yard. It is a leucistic bird. If an albino, the bird would be totally white with bill, legs, and irises pink. They’re pink because the lack of pigment allows the red of the blood vessels to show through. If a partial albino, some of its features would be white. In leucism, the plumage is pale, normal pigmentation being diluted. On this bird you can see the faint glow of the red breast and the brown color on its head.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 am and is filed under Backyard birding, Bird biology, Bird identification. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.