Saw this bird at my feeder recently and thought it would be a fun challenge for any North American birders. Leave your identification in the comments section. For more information on individuals like this (contains spoilers!) please visit this page.
Bird ID challenge
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Leucistic DEJU? ( Neat Capture!)
When I saw this photo, I thought to myself, ‘Weird looking Junco thing.’ i never knew about leucism until I read your post. Do leusistic birds have harder times finding mates or settling in with a flock? Im curious how this Junco would interact with other Juncos.
Hi Kaeli: I’m not sure where to put this question, but here seems as good a place as any.
I did a cursory Google search for information about genetic drift in Corvid populations, and this article jumped out at me: https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2020/07/27/do-birds-of-a-feather-speciate-together/?sh=67bca452d340
Basically, I was looking at lists of Crows, and I saw that there are separate species of crow every few islands in SE Asia (specifically Indonesia). In no particular order: Sunda, Violet, Torresian, Long-Billed, Flores, Gray, Brown-Headed, Slender-Billed, Piping and Banggai.
I was wondering if you could do a blog post on genetic drift in Corvid populations. In particular, I am looking for any public-facing phylogenies of Corvids. If you wanted to talk about a different Corvid, like the Mariana Crow, that would be ok too.
I hope you are settled into your new role in the South Pacific.
All the best,
Lukas
Hi Lukas! So that’s something I could try to put on the roster, but I’ll be honest that genetics are not my strong suit. I can give it a whack though!