Bizarre Blue Tit (almost albino)

[alisonclair]

Hi

We have this lovely little fella visiting our feeder at the moment (albeit he needs to learn to go down a rung to where there is actually some seed left!!)

You can tell he is a blue tit, as he has the very faint markings of one, but when you see him flit into the garden he stands out like a sore thumb.

Is he likely to change colour do you know?

[thebeard]

perhaps its just a juvenile, they tend to have that yellow colouration

[Tobyh]

Definitely a juvenile although it still does look very light even for a youngster.

[slimrbp]

It does look like a juvenile, we have a few visiting the garden at the moment although the wings are a bit darker than your little fella.

[Fieldfare95]

Juvenile blue tits are quite yellowish but this one looks totally yellow to me. It reminds me of the "cinnamon" colour that canaries can have

[RoyW]

This is a leucistic individual - the colours are definitely not those of a normal Blue Tit (even a juvenile).

[alisonclair]

what does leucistic mean? Forgive my ignorance....

[2dogs2000]

Originally Posted by alisonclair

what does leucistic mean? Forgive my ignorance....

Albino is white with pink eyes. Leucistic means has a lot of white colouring which is not normal to that species. Lots of crows, rooks and blackbirds have white feathers where they should have none. Not scientifically explained but I hope it helps.

[alisonclair]

Hi,

Here is the latest photo of our little blue tit. Still visiting every day, and still that very beautiful colour.