Outdoor Ontario

Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Taffy on June 08, 2009, 02:47:35 PM

Title: Albino American Goldfinch?
Post by: Taffy on June 08, 2009, 02:47:35 PM: This is what we think is an albino American Goldfinch at our backyard feeder in Burlington. Can someone confirm this and are they common?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3608394546/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3608394546/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3608394618/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3608394618/)
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Post by: JMCDA on June 08, 2009, 04:22:19 PM: It certainly looks like a partially leucistic (reduced pigmentation)am goldfinch - not an albino which would be all white and have red/pink eyes due to totally lack of pigmentation.

Lucky you! Mine are all boring old normal :-)

Joann

...or maybe it's an escaped "something or other finch" that is similar to a goldfinch.
Title: Could be an escaped Canary
Post by: thouc on June 08, 2009, 09:08:02 PM: It looks very similar to the domestic Canary on this page.

http://ncraviary.netfirms.com/ (http://ncraviary.netfirms.com/)
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Post by: Brian Bailey on June 08, 2009, 10:45:21 PM: A very interesting colour combination! The yellow feathers look almost normal, but there is no black (melanin?) pigment in the feathers. A bit puzzling that the eye appears black.

BB
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Post by: steve rossi on June 09, 2009, 09:03:43 AM: I had a very similar bird at my feeder a couple of weeks ago, I took a pic of it and realized it was banded and had long nails
which would indicate a captive bird .
There were goldfinch`s there as well, this one was a little larger and this one would chase them off the feeder, also when I went outside he did not flee or act skidish, my conclusion, a pet bird that had escaped.

Here is a pic of the bird.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/361 ... 3b2a_b.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3610089115_c7aa0c3b2a_b.jpg)
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Post by: Kin Lau on June 09, 2009, 09:37:15 AM: Going by thouc's link, they both look like Canaries.
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Post by: Taffy on June 09, 2009, 10:14:03 AM: Thanks for the responses. Isn't it great to learn a new word? I'd never heard of leucistic before but now thanks to JMCDA and Wikipedia I'm an expert!
Here is another photo of the bird in the presence of other Goldfinches. Although it looks a lot like the Canary in Thouc's post it acts just like the other Goldfinches. It seems to be a bit of an outcast and is chased off the feeder by other male GF's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3611020400/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36051316@N06/3611020400/)
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Post by: Brian Bailey on June 09, 2009, 12:56:17 PM: It may just be relative distances from the camera, but the white-winged bird looks a bit larger than the Goldfinches. If it is a canary of some kind, it would explain the eye being dark while the feathers aren't.

Does or call or sing? Maybe it could be separated by voice.

BB
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Post by: Kin Lau on June 09, 2009, 01:05:00 PM: Canaries are part of the Finch family, so hanging out and acting like the Goldfinches would not be unexpected.