Beautiful Blondies

Leucism in Birds

On campus, the wintering mallard flock consists of over 300 individuals. Amongst those, “aberrant” birds can be spotted, such as intersex, leucistic, and hybrid mallards. Leucism, unlike albinism, is a condition that causes bacteria to attack the pigmentation in an animal's body, leading to a lack of pigment, or white spots, around appendages. In humans it shows up as vitiligo, and in birds it often shows up as lightened plumage and lack of markings. Leucism occurs in about 1 in 30,000 birds. We have three returning leucistic mallards in our on campus flock, ranging from mostly white to a light blonde.