Leucistic White RAVEN of Qualicum Beach
Corvus corax
©Vancouver Island Birds/Mike Yip
Vancouver Island’s Qualicum Beach seems to be a special place, with white Ravens showing up every year for the past ten years reported the Vancouver Sun. This year there is only one new white raven that has been seen, but that hasn’t stopped birders.
The Globe & Mail reported
“… The birds are thought to be leucistic and not albino, the result of a genetic defect producing chicks lacking normal pigmentation.”
The Times Colonist explained how it is thought the genetic defect works.
“White ravens are the result of the mating of two common ravens with the same genetic defect. The same pair could produce many generations of white ravens, since common black ravens are monogamous and long-lived.”
One bird photographer, Mike Yip, claims some of the white ravens have blue eyes. According to the Times Colonist,
“Leucism is the result of a reduction of all types of pigmentation while albinism is the reduction of just melanin.”
Mike Yip has posted some excellent photographs of the white ravens, along with normally-coloured ravens and other beautiful birds found on Vancouver Island on his site, Vancouver Island Birds.
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