Stonechat or Whinchat?

[Treehawk]

I found this today after having close encounters with Stonechats and a Dartford Warbler:

I did see female Stonechats earlier but they didn't have the faint white "eyebrow" I can see in this bird. Is there a chance its a Whinchat?

I also saw a Crow today that had white feathers in its wings (the rest were totally black.) Is this what is called "leucism"?

[Fieldfare95]

Welcome to WAB
I am not sure about the white eyebrow, but it is still a female stonechat and white feathers are caused by leucism-I've never seen it in a crow.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Treehawk

I found this today after having close encounters with Stonechats and a Dartford Warbler:

I did see female Stonechats earlier but they didn't have the faint white "eyebrow" I can see in this bird. Is there a chance its a Whinchat?

I also saw a Crow today that had white feathers in its wings (the rest were totally black.) Is this what is called "leucism"?

Leucism is where there is a reduced amount of pigmentation present resulting in a faded, washed-out colour to the norm.
Albinism is where there is a lack of any pigmentation present resulting in white colouration.
Both conditions can be total or partial in their extent on an animal. The white seen in crows and blackbirds would be partial albinism.

Cheers,

Adam

[Treehawk]

Thanks for the quick reply. Before now I had never seen leucism in a passerine (a crow is a passerine? Not very musical or perchy.) When it was resting the white feathers were completely inconspicuous. I managed to get this vague photo when it took off:


In the photo with two crows the one with white feathers is on the right.

EDIT: Leucism can cause complete whiteness right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism
Albinism is only different from the colour of eyes?

EDIT EDIT: This website
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/whitecrows.htm
someone mentions that "I occasionally found crows with white on their wings". And seems to specificy white feathers are quite common in crows (even though this is the American species I imagine ours is the same?)

[PentaxPete]

Its almost certainly a Male Stonechat. The female doesnt have the head ' cap '

Male Winchat's white stripe is not at the edge/rear of the eye. Rather, it travels from the base of the beak and travels over the eye to the back of the head

[Fieldfare95]

Yes, I'm pretty sure a crow is a passerine. I think it translates as "perching bird" or something along those lines.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Yes, Crows are in the Family Corvidae in the Order Passeriformes.

Cheers,

Adam

[Fieldfare95]

Originally Posted by PentaxPete

Its almost certainly a Male Stonechat. The female doesnt have the head ' cap '

Male Winchat's white stripe is not at the edge/rear of the eye. Rather, it travels from the base of the beak and travels over the eye to the back of the head

Are you sure?
This is a picture of a female stonechat I found on google:

[Treehawk]

Heres what I thought were females:


Notice how none of the above have that white eyebrow. (lore?)
I also found this very young bird which I presume is also a Stonechat as it followed a male around.




Male


I would be very surprised if no one else thought about calling them Heath Robins because it came straight to me.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Notice how none of the above have that white eyebrow. (lore?)

The white eyebrow would technically be called a supercilium. The lores are the areas between the base of the beak and the eye.

Cheers,

Adam