The robin with a white head was seen in Spotsy. Visit the Photo Place

WHITE-HEADED ROBIN SPOTTED

White-headed robin shows up in Spotsylvania County, offering a birdy glimpse of a condition called leucism

BY LAURA MOYER

Date published: 4/3/2009

BY LAURA MOYER

Shirley Boggs caught a flash of white through her kitchen window and moved closer for a look.

There were some robins hopping along her Spotsylvania County driveway. She thought one of them had something white in its mouth, maybe some paper for a nest. With a shock, Boggs realized that wasn't white paper--it was a bright white head.

Next-door neighbor Bernie Simmons had noticed the odd robin, too. He got his digital camera.

Nobody would believe him, he thought, unless he had a picture to prove it.

One of Simmons' pictures landed in Andrew Dolby's e-mail in-box this week. He's a University of Mary Washington associate professor of biology and a bird specialist, and he knew right away what it was.

The bird, he said, is leucistic, having a lack of pigment in some of its cells that results in the white feathers.

This robin also has whitish legs and dapples of white in the gray feathers on its back. Leucism is a rare condition, affecting "one in thousands" of birds, Dolby said.

He has also seen leucism in a crow, a common grackle and once, in Chincoteague, in a red-winged blackbird. In that case, the normally jet-black bird with red epaulets was mostly white--but still had the red patches on its shoulders.

The condition probably develops while the bird grows in its egg. The gene that controls skin-pigment cells called melanocytes turns on in some cases, but fails in others. The result is partially normal coloring with patches of white.

Leucism is sometimes confused with albinism, a complete lack of pigmentation also accompanied by reddish eyes. But the conditions are different, Dolby said. Leucism doesn't affect a bird's health, but it can cause an individual trouble. It makes the bird more visible to predators such as sharp-shinned hawks and Cooper's hawks in search of a meal.

And while leucistic birds aren't ostracized by their parents or others of their species, they may find it tough to land mates.

"Birds are pretty sensitive about how they perceive each other," Dolby said, and feather color is important.

The white-headed robin joined several others in Boggs' and Simmons' Spotsylvania front yards all last week, dining on wet worms and taking turns perching in a budding plum tree.

But by earlier this week, the bird seemed to have moved on.

Still, the neighbors are keeping an eye out, hoping for another glimpse.

"It stands out so when you see it perching in the grass," Boggs said. "It looks like a little bald eagle."

Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Email: lmoyer@freelancestar.com

Date published: 4/3/2009

Most recent reader comments: