If you refer back to the post on May 12th, 2010, entitled “Mystery in the Waterfowl Nursery,” you will find a picture of one of our three blond ducklings.  Now, almost 2 months later, they are ready to be released!

As mentioned in the May 12th post, they are not albino because their eyes are pigmented normally (although the red eye reduction feature on the camera apparently was not effective in this shot!).  A more plausible explanation is a condition called Leukism.  Leukism is an abnormal plumage condition caused by a genetic mutation that prevents melanin, a pigment, from being properly depositted on a bird’s feathers.  The appearance of a leukistic bird can range from white spots (also called pied or piebald) to pale plumage or even pure white.  Our birds’ overall plumage looks pale or diluted, but normal mallard marking patterns are still faintly visible.

Our blondies were taken to Carpenter Nature Center on June 28th to get accustomed to being in a more natural setting.  They will be released into the wild in the next week or two.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 7:52 pm and is filed under Nursery News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.