Twin leucistic moorhens in the north west UK

Leucistic twin chicks with their normally coloured sibling. Copyright Nivek Photography 2008.

After a spate of leucistic moorhens from around the UK in 2007, we have received our first report of leucistic moorhens this year. Curiously the two moorhens are from the same brood, and are resident on the same pond that the first moorhen that we heard about last year.

There is obviously a strong genetic strain and it is probable that these 'twins' are siblings to last years leucistic moorhen from that same pond. The 2007 leucistic bird has now disappeared, and although it is possible it has moved away to another area, it is much more likely that it hasn't survived.

Leucism (or Leukism)
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.

Albinism is a different condition. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that in albinism the eyes are usually pink or red, and albinism affects the entire animal, not just patches.

Click here to see our gallery of leucistic birds and animals