There is a pair of ravens who nest near my colege. All of the young birds have white patches or spots on their feathers which are still there when they moult. The pair at home don't have young with white on them.
So does anyone know why ravens have white patches?
2007-12-06 03:36:07 · 3 answers · asked by Starling 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
They are definitely not magpies. One of last years has one white circle on it's chest, but otherwise it is glossy black. One of this years has white patches on the tops of it's wings on the flight feathers. The other one has three white dots on the leading edge if it's right wing.
2007-12-06 06:46:44 · update #1
Without having a picture of these birds I can't be sure, but I'm inclined to think they aren't ravens but possibly a magpie or other species of corvid.
2007-12-06 03:57:35 · answer #1 · answered by Laura 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This can often happen with birds like crows & ravens. Check this out:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/whitecrows.htm
It mentions crows with abnormalities, but most any dark bird can show these types of white patches, all the way up to pure white (albino).
2007-12-06 05:42:06 · answer #2 · answered by Yahzmin ♥♥ 4ever 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Birds, and the crow family in particular can get a sort of partial albinism that means only some of their feathers turn white, called leucism.
See:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/crows/discuss/72157594174081921/
and there are some photos of birds with white patches at:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/crows/pool/
2007-12-06 09:00:09 · answer #3 · answered by octodonta 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋