General Chat

OH is away sailing, as usual, and was having a meal in a restaurant on the West Coast of Scotland, when he noticed another diner with one of those huge cameras you see in wildlife programmes.

The restaurant had large picture windows and just outside was a bush full of starlings. Everyone was watching them as they suddenly took off and landed again in another bush a few feet away.

In the middle of the flock was a pure white bird, which all assumed was a different type of bird, but apparently it was an albino starling, and the photographer was there to try and get a good picture of it.

According to the staff, he had been there all day, but the bird was always in the middle of the flock. Perhaps they were protecting it from twitchers? :-) :-)

and i thought other birds would have attacked it for being albino..what a lovely story to hear....maybe it was a bit blind and they were looking after it?

My first thought was that the other birds would have attacked it, but not in this case. The people in the restaurant were all fascinated - apart from the "twitcher", and he was getting frustrated! :-) :-)

Twitcher? :-S

Twitcher,

common term for a bird watcher

(the feathered variety, not the scantily clad....which is a different kind of voyeur.)

No it isn't Bob. :-|

Twitchers galavant all over the country at the merest mention of something unusual just to tick it off their list.

Birders go somewhere on the off chance. If they see any birds they haven't seen before they're happy. If they don't they're still happy because they've had a nice day out.

Never confuse the two, unless you wish to insult birders. :-)

Birders watch and study. Twitchers tick and go.

Somebody had one in their garden a few years ago. An albino starling that is. ;-)

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/83442.aspx

And a similar story from 2011:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=205437

"A largeish group of starlings visits us fairly regularly and amongst their number is what I believe to be an albino specimen.He isn't shunned by the flock, in fact, his difference in plumage doesn't seem to make any difference at all."

Somebody filmed one back in 2010:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7xqtk2FnY8

:-)

oooooooooooops suitably enlightened, thanks.........Island

flagellates self and covers in ashes............

I beg your pardon Bob! LOL

I saw an albino jackdaw a few years ago. Also a leucistic (white) red kite which wasn't harrassed by the other birds but was last in the pecking order for food.

I once saw a brown Blackbird when I was on holiday in Guernsey, our friends said it was a regular visitor to their garden.

Was it a female or juvenile Paula?

But are not females brown? and males black?

We had a blackbird with a white head a few years ago, also one with white tail feathers which might have been his offspring?

Island. It was a few years ago, It certainly wasn't a juvenile, not sure about male/female. We did discuss it a great length and my husband took a photograph of it.

Yes Bob.

Paula may I ask why you are so sure that it wasn't a juvenile?

It was a long time ago (ago twenty years plus). If my memory serves me well, it didn't look a small bird, and my friends said it was a frequent visitor to their garden.

Juveniles are the same size as the adults when they fledge but I think is was most likely a female.