Leucistic Birds and Mammals

I returned home from an afternoon swim the other day and saw a juvenile cat literally eating the heart out of a bird’s chest cavity. She growled. Cats will stiff-arm each other over dry cat food, but they growl and viciously defend real meat. The ravenous cat ate her meal on some pine straw under an old holly bush near my front door. I could not identify what species of bird the cat was devouring–an unusual failure for me because I’m very knowledgeable about local wildlife. The bird was white and had orange stripes on its wings. I was totally stumped and soon resorted to the internet for help identifying the species. These are 2 feathers from the bird I could not identify. There wasn’t much left after the cat ate it. I finally determined it was bird with a leucistic mutation. Leucistic birds and mammals have a mutation that prevents pigment from completely depositing into feathers, skin, or fur. It’s not the same mutation that causes albinism, a mutation that prevents the production…

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