Bird Walk for Beginners - Monday, January 16th, 2017

Though this was billed as a "bird walk for beginners," we encountered a bird so unusual that many experienced birders have never seen one! It was an almost totally leucistic American Robin. Leucism is a partial loss of color due to a genetic mutation that prevents melanin and other pigments from being deposited in the feathers. In this case, it was a robin that was almost totally white except for some patches of 'robin red' in the breast. You wonder how long such a bird will survive since he practically glowed amidst the dark leaves of the holly tree he was feeding in. Speaking with the property owners, who are helping birds make it through the winter by providing a bird bath for bathing and drinking, we found that the bird had already been there for two weeks so he's evaded the local Cooper's hawks and goshawks so far. Other favorites this morning included a perched Red-shouldered Hawk, feeding Fox Sparrow and a very cooperative Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, and Karl Lukens.
42 species

Canada Goose  10
Mute Swan  4
Gadwall  11
American Wigeon  4
American Black Duck  6
Mallard (Northern)  15
Northern Shoveler  8
Ring-necked Duck  8
Black Scoter  1
Bufflehead  6
Red-throated Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Black Vulture  2
Turkey Vulture  14
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Ring-billed Gull  3
Herring Gull (American)  10
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  20
Mourning Dove  5
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Blue Jay  7
American Crow  3
Tree Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  5
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern)  2
Carolina Wren  7
American Robin  4     Leucistic bird found; mostly white with  patches of red feathers in breast
Northern Mockingbird  6
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  5
Fox Sparrow (Red)  1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  2
White-throated Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  1
House Finch  9
American Goldfinch  1
House Sparrow  3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Leucistic American Robin [Photo by Roger Horn]

Northern Mockingbird [Photo by Roger Horn]

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker [Photo by Roger Horn]