The Mutants of Flowerdale

Almost ten years ago this blog featured a leucistic magpie (click HERE). Leucism, derived from the Latin word leuco meaning white, is a genetic mutation resulting in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal. In the case of birds it means the excessive white colouration of the feathers.

Last week whilst driving through Flowerdale I noticed (with my aged eyesight) on the hill in the distance a solitary bird that looked like an Australian Ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) – but with short legs. Telephoto pictures revealed it to be another leucistic Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), pictured left, with more white feathers than normal. Interestingly it was photographed in the same field as the bird in the previous blog eight years ago. This bird and the one in the previous blog look very similar and given magpies can live to 30 years old in the wild it could be the same bird. If it is, this bird has been living in the same location for a long time, something that I had never considered before.

In a neighbouring paddock was another leucistic magpie, pictured right. This bird had an almost exclusively white back and white pants (all the recognised magpie forms have black ‘pants’). Maybe the mutation is being propagated through the offspring. In smaller birds this propagation is not likely to persist as white birds tend to stand out more and therefore are more easily targeted by predators. Magpies however are probably big enough to look after themselves.

Regularly patterned magpies like the Black-backed Magpie below did not seems to be fazed by its differently patterned companion. We can all learn something from that!