** Sally Jackson shares an interesting link that again refers to the
significant comeback of MONARCH BUTTERFLIES [Monarque] in Mexico, and a lot of
other information about them including MILKWEED [ asclepiade ] planting. The
link is attached below from the Canadian Press for folks to read it for
themselves.
** Bob Blake reports seeing two CHIPMUNKS in his Second North River yard on Wednesday, March 02. Last year the first one appeared in Bob's yard on March 30.
** On February 22 Carol Steele, a neighbor of Bob Childs on Court St. in
Riverview, photographed a very oddly plumaged Waxwing. Several of us studied
these photos (which are reattached today)and found it hard to come up with an
interpretation. Stu Tingley forwarded the photos to David Sibley, whose bird
guides most of us have. David Sibley took serious looks at the photos and gave a
detailed commentary, and with his permission his comments are posted below.
Thanks to Stu for making that contact.
Quoting.......
“Hi
Stu,
As I said before, I agree that it is an abnormal
Cedar Waxwing, and not Bohemian. A Bohemian would never show yellow on the
belly. The only thing really Bohemian-like about this bird is the wing pattern,
and even that is just a superficial resemblance. It lacks any white on the
primary coverts, and the pattern of white in the primaries and secondaries is
similar to Bohemian but not a perfect match. It also shows typical Cedar-like
pale inner edges on the tertials.
Usually partial albino birds have individual
feathers all white. It's unusual for a partial albino to have individual
feathers partly white, and usually when that happens it is just one big section
of each feather, such as the base of the feathers white as seen on some crows.
The very complex pattern of white tips and edges on secondaries and primaries
here is something I can't recall seeing before, ever. It's possible that this
color pattern is buried in the ancestral genes carried by all waxwings, and
comes into play here even though it is normally not shown by Cedar Waxwing, but
I can't explain why that would be triggered by albinism. And then there are
other white feathers in the wing like the white alula, which is just albinism
and not something Bohemians show.
It's also possible that the resemblance is just a
coincidence, but that seems almost as unlikely as, say, a monkey typing the
Gettysburg address. Just too much of a coincidence.
One other comment - there are two kinds of melanin
in birds - a gray-black kind and a reddish-brown kind, Most birds have both, and
partial albinos can lose one or both, partly or fully. This bird is missing
parts of both. It's missing most of the dark gray-black in the tail, which males
the yellow tail tip unusually wide. It's missing blotches of brown on the back
and all color from the head, etc. The yellow carotenoid pigments here are not
affected by albinism, so those are essentially normal.
Very interesting bird, thanks for
sending.
Best,
David Sibley”
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
CAT POSTER.LITTLE RAY'S TRAVELLING EXHIBIT.FEB 27, 2016
CEDAR WAXWING (ALBINISTIC-LEUCISTIC) FEB 21, 2016.CAROL STEEL.
CEDAR WAXWING (ALBINISTIC-LEUCISTIC) FEB 21, 2016.CAROL STEEL.
POSTER.LITTLE RAY'S TRAVELLING EXHIBIT.FEB 27, 2016 (11)
