Nature's Abnormalities

About a week ago, I received an email about a "white hawk" that has been seen occasionally in the Helena Valley since last summer. While doing some random birding in the valley several days ago, I encountered this bird. Indeed, the bird was mostly white but had some pigmentation on the head and tail, and a small amount on the abdominal area and under-wing. This is a condition called leucism and results from a genetic abnormality wherein pigments are not produced on all or parts of the skin and feathers. It is different from albinism. Based on the fact that the bird was present last summer and the pigments that are present in photos, this appears to be a red-tailed hawk. The bird was quite spooky so I did not get very good pictures of it, but here are a few so you can get a general idea of what this unusual hawk looked like.For the next several weeks, you will not find anything new on this blog site - as I will be doing some birding in Ecuador. But don't forget to join me again later in January for lots of fresh dialogue, thoughts, and pictures about one of the most diverse birding areas in the world. I'm looking forward to using this medium rather than a diary as a way to document and share travel experiences. Dairies have a way of disappearing into drawers or other "black holes" only to be rediscovered many years later after their relevance has likely faded. Hopefully the black hole that cyberland sometimes emulates will not be quite as deep as my night stand!!

There is a function available to notify you when I have posted a new blog to my site. Scroll to the very bottom of this group of my blogs to where it says "Subscribe to:". Follow the instructions so that you will be notified when I post something new. Although I have no yet used this function for other blogs I follow, it seems like it might be quite useful.