[mou] Leucistic Yellow-rump, Dakota Co.

[James Mattsson]

Interesting antecdote. 

The evening of May 14 Laura Mattsson and I watched a white-headed leucistic female Yellow-rumped Warbler at eye level, 15 ft. away at Schaar's Bluff, Spring Lake RP near Hastings. Except for the white head and neck, the bird was otherwise normal in appearance. It occured to me at the time that of the tens of thousands (millions??) of YRWAs I've seen during my 38 years of viewing birds, I have never seen one with aberrant plumage. Surprisingly, today, May 17, we happened across the same individual perhaps 200 east of the first location. I noticed the same tiny group of dark feathers in the crown seen on May 14. We know through banding data that migrant birds can remain at stop-over sites for extended periods, but it is rare indeed to have an opportunity to verify that an unbanded warbler has remained at one location during migration for a minimum of 4 consecutive days. 


James Mattsson
mattjim at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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