STRANGE PLUMAGE ISN’T MYNA
THE Australian magpie is said to be the best-known and most-loved of all the 800 or so birds that have been found here.
It is also one of the most intensively studied of them all.
At one time three different species were recognised — the black-backed, white-backed and the western from WA.
Now there is just one, for these are simply separate colour-forms that occupy different parts of the continent.
Scientists have gone one step further, and now recognise no fewer than nine variations of the one species.
That needn’t concern us too much, for “our” birds are clearly just the one white-backed form.
But every so often an oddity occurs, with the plumage variations creating a great deal of interest. Such is the case with the spotted or speckled individual living out along Barwon Heads Rd.
The white feathers are the result of a lack of skin pigment (melanin) that gives the black feathers their colour.
When there is a complete lack, there is no colour at all, resulting in an albino bird.
This partial lack is called leucism, and may result in just a few feathers without colour, or with the feathers having a “washed-out” appearance.
We have in our Belmont garden a blackbird with just two white wing-feathers — we call him the “corporal” because of the two stripes. Some years ago, there was another beautiful black-and-white blackbird living along the Stan Lewis Walk in Highton.
Leucism is most obvious in black-plumaged birds, but it can occur in any coloured bird.
We often have sightings of common mynas with various amounts of white in their plumage. Nor is it always a complete lack, with the “brown” magpies at Modewarre a wellknown example. Wildlife information and questions can be sent to ppescott@gmail.com