Thursday, February 04, 2010

X is for Xanthochroism: something different for Thursday Challenge

Its not often that you see a male Evening Grosbeak which doesn't have any black on it, but I did; on two different occasions! This is an example of the condition called xantho- chroism, which occurs when yellow replaces the normal colouration of the feathers. In this case the yellow coloured male Evening Grosbeak shown here is lacking the black feathers that a male usually displays. You can see the com- parision of the normal and abnormal colouration in the first photo, and also in the one below as two Evening Grosbeaks perch, one on each end of the feeder.

4 comments:

2sweetnsaxy said...

They're so pretty. I wish I saw more colorful birds. Nice shots!

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Becky said...

Very interesting Ann. I haven't seen ANY Grosbeaks in years around here.
B.

me ann my camera said...

Becky, I haven't seen any Evening Grosbeaks this winter yet!
Ann