A "" White"" Cardinal. YES, A WHITE CARDINAL.
I took this picture a while back, & later on in the day, i decided to name (identify) all of my pictures in my files, ( I did not realize what a job this would be). In the process of naming, i ran upon this picture that i shot on May 29, 2020.
Has anyone ever seen, or heard of, a white Cardinal? In my 86 years of existence here on mother earth, I have never witnessed, or have never heard of any thing as this. Could this be an abnormally, or ??? what??
Please advise me, or give me your thoughts,or help,expertise etc., on this. It will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
Lelon Cude.
Hi Lelon, your bird appears to be a tufted titmouse.
Actually it's a Tufted Titmouse but yes, I have seen several photos of albino cardinals
Not a Cardinal— a Tufted Titmouse, smallish gray bird with crest on its head like a Cardinal has
Thank you for your reply. I am so sorry for the wrong identity on this bird. My appologies. Thanks again. Lelon
My apologies. I am embarrassed for sure. Thank you "very much" for bringing this to my attention.
joecichjr
Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA
I think an albino anything has red eyes. Apropos of nothing, I saw a squirrel with blonde and white hair. Beautiful!
optic
Loc: Southwestern United States
An entirely forgivable mistake, Lelon. I've made more bad calls than I care to recall and so have several big-time birders I have known.
Leucistic birds, like Great-tailed Grackles with white tails or other such areas absent of color, are often seen, but truly colorless albino birds with pink or blue eyes are not --but even then, it's not always exactly so. Here is a Sibley verified, Partially Albino Red-tailed Hawk. Note the pale blue eyes, the brownish bar, and black-tipped primaries. Nature is never simple and absolutes rarely hold up in the field.
Rolk
Loc: South Central PA
joecichjr wrote:
I think an albino anything has red eyes. Apropos of nothing, I saw a squirrel with blonde and white hair. Beautiful!
We saw something similar on a recent vacation. You are correct that alabino's normally have red eyes and pinkish skin. From Wikipedia: "Albinism is a condition in which there is an absence of melanin. Melanin is what is present in the skin and is what gives skin, feathers, hair and eyes their color. ... Leucism is only a partial loss of pigmentation, which can make the animal have white or patchily colored skin, hair, or feathers."
Here's a picture of a leucistic alligator. Notice the eyes are not red/pink.
Tim
LELON CUDE wrote:
I took this picture a while back, & later on in the day, i decided to name (identify) all of my pictures in my files, ( I did not realize what a job this would be). In the process of naming, i ran upon this picture that i shot on May 29, 2020.
Has anyone ever seen, or heard of, a white Cardinal? In my 86 years of existence here on mother earth, I have never witnessed, or have never heard of any thing as this. Could this be an abnormally, or ??? what??
Please advise me, or give me your thoughts,or help,expertise etc., on this. It will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
Lelon Cude.
I took this picture a while back, & later on... (
show quote)
It’s caused by leucism. Google it.
LELON CUDE wrote:
I took this picture a while back, & later on in the day, i decided to name (identify) all of my pictures in my files, ( I did not realize what a job this would be). In the process of naming, i ran upon this picture that i shot on May 29, 2020.
Has anyone ever seen, or heard of, a white Cardinal? In my 86 years of existence here on mother earth, I have never witnessed, or have never heard of any thing as this. Could this be an abnormally, or ??? what??
Please advise me, or give me your thoughts,or help,expertise etc., on this. It will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
Lelon Cude.
I took this picture a while back, & later on... (
show quote)
Hey you got us to look at your post by making us think you had a photo of the infamous White Cardinal, lol,
Here's a leucistic female red tailed hawk that was resident in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio several years ago. Reportedly had at least 1 hatch of "normal" offspring with a mate that had usual coloration...I saw them soaring together on several occasions. She's been gone for a couple of years now, but I think it's probably the most unique bird I ever expect to have the privilege of seeing. Lucky I had my camera on a few of those occasions.
LELON CUDE wrote:
I took this picture a while back, & later on in the day, i decided to name (identify) all of my pictures in my files, ( I did not realize what a job this would be). In the process of naming, i ran upon this picture that i shot on May 29, 2020.
Has anyone ever seen, or heard of, a white Cardinal? In my 86 years of existence here on mother earth, I have never witnessed, or have never heard of any thing as this. Could this be an abnormally, or ??? what??
Please advise me, or give me your thoughts,or help,expertise etc., on this. It will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
Lelon Cude.
I took this picture a while back, & later on... (
show quote)
I have seen white Cardinals that are Albino and white ones that are not Albino. The ones that are not are Leucistic. Leucism is just a loss of color pigment. Your bird is a Titmouse. Where I live, there are some YELLOW Cardinals. Google the images.
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