Posted by Matthew Sim
We’ve done posts here on this blog about leucism before, which is when a bird has reduced pigmentation, meaning it has more white in it’s feathers than normal for the species. We’ve had some examples before, including a leucistic House Finch, American Robin, Ruby-throated Hummingbird and others. For the past few months, Calgary has had a very neat leucistic bird in the area. This Rough-legged Hawk frequents the area around Highway 40, just west of Calgary.
Now compare this with a more normal Rough-legged Hawk.
On January 1rst, I found this leucistic hawk on Highway 40 near its intersection with Range Road 40.