Entradas

Mostrando entradas de enero, 2020

Grey schizochroic Robin (Erithacus rubecula) in Doñana, December 2019

Imagen
José Luís Anguita found an unusual bird at La Rocina stream, Doñana, Huelva, Spain the last 28 December 2019. It recalled a Robin ( Erithacus rubecula ) but it lacked its usual reddish bib and looked overall greyish-bluish. Initially the observer went shocked when the found the bird: Lo encontré en el arroyo de La Rocina, Huelva, el pasado 28 de Diciembre de 2019. Podrás imaginar el susto. .../... The bird remained at its site from 28-30.12.2019. And beyond an aberration in a Robin coloration, he wondered if those bluish tones may have something to deal with some kind of hybridization with another species. Indeed, as he pointed out regarding a previous observation of a bird in the UK this bird is a ‘Grey’ schizocroism mutation affecting one of the species pigments, the phaeomelanin. And the bird is indeed a Robin ( Erithacus rubecula ). As Van Grouw (2006) -excerpt below- stated in his clàssic reference on colour aberrations ( Not every white bird is an al...