Leucistic Robin

Having observed this bird ourselves in the neighborhood, turns out, our bird of a different color is famous in our hood. On our walk home from the grocery store, we spied this 8″ X 10″ glossy displayed on the community bulletin board outside at Nelson’s Market.

Our leucistic robin's photo displayed on neighborhood bulletin board

At first sighting, I would never have guessed it was a robin as I would not expect to see a robin with a white head. It is a robin though – a leucistic robin. Leucism is a rare genetic mutation that prevents the development of pigmentation cells as seen in the abnormal plumage on our neighborhood robin. For more information on bird leucism, go here – http://birding.about.com/od/identifyingbirds/a/leucism.htm.

Rainbows

Just when I start to feel that our gloomy, rainy days will never end, as if making up for all that gloom, a beautiful rainbow (double at that!) appears.

Double rainbow . . .

I am sorry that I have complained so much, so often about the wet, windy weather of late, but the gloomy weather keeps me from enjoying hikes along the trails. Really though, a rainy day on the trail is better than no day on the trail! I should simply purchase better rain gear. You can go here – http://60before60.wordpress.com/ – to read about my hikes.