Unusual bird in Kent

This image was sent tous by a reader from Kent. Mrs A B-S saw the bird in her garden, however the bird appeared very tired and it rested for a while, making it easier to take photos. being unable to identify the bird, Mrs A B-S sent the image to Wildlife Extra. While we are not bird experts by any means, we believe the bird is an escapee, probably a leucistic Zebra finch. Zebra finch are native to Australia and captive birds have a strong leucistic strain, however please let us know if we have got this wrong.

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.

This occassionaly causes very excited biologists to think they have discovered a new species, when in fact leucism is the cause of the unusual markings they have seen.

Click here to see our galelry of leucistic and albino birds & animals.