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[namazu]

Good morning.

Today on my way to the bus stop I saw a robin with a white head.  (Alas!  I was not a quick enough draw with the camera to get a clear photo of it.) 

The rest of the robin had normal coloration (dark brown-black body, red breast), and I did not see any others in the flock with this coloration.

Is this a known color morph?  If not, would you guess that this robin is more likely a one-off mutant (who "went gray") or a bird affected by a disease (e.g. a fungus, as has been seen in bats over the past few years)?  The robin did not seem disabled in any way, and flew off with the rest of the flock.

Thanks for indulging me.  (I am afraid to do a Google search on [robin "white head"] for fear of getting a ton of photos of some teenage girl's acne.)

[nephele]

Take a look at this.

http://www.northbirding.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1181135675/

N

[namazu]

Take a look at this.
http://www.northbirding.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1181135675/
N

Cool!  Thanks!  That looks very much like what I saw, only I think "my" robin's head didn't have black speckles like the one in the photo.  It was like a bald eagle -- only it was a robin.

[wegie]

They seem to come in all sorts of degrees of albinism.

http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Stuff/AlbinoRobin.htm

[strix]

I think that occasionally there are incidents of partial albinism that occur in some birds. I vaguely remember something about this from some long ago genetics lesson, but I don't recall the specifics.

[gennimom]

Whitetail deer have the same issue sometimes. I've heard weird rumors about those, such as they are the cross between a deer and a goat.

Here's an example: http://www.buckmanager.com/2008/01/25/abnormal-whitetail-deer-coloration/

Shows up in more than just robins! I think it is neat.