Showing the white feather

By Paul Cecil | Published April 7, 2008

No I'm not about to give up on the blog, but over the weekend I was having a small discussion over on Bitzy's 365 photo project about a crow with a white tail. We were discussing whether or not this was a common occurrence.

Well today I walk out toward the fields and what do I see but this. Not a crow, but rook. With several white feathers.

There were a dozen or so rooks on the ground, feeding after the snow-melt. I followed this one around for 10 minutes or so and took lots of shots, but haven't had chance to process them all yet. I wanted to post a couple though. Interesting to note that both crows and rooks are corvids, of which the magpie is the absolute star so far as white feathers are concerned.

Camera note: both shots with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This entry was posted in Birds and tagged , .

13 Comments

  1. Dudley April 7, 2008 at 10:04 pm #

    Excellent texture!

  2. SittingFox April 7, 2008 at 10:04 pm #

    :eyes: Rather unusual! There was a crow with a white wing feather here some years ago, and a friend sent me a photo of a fine part-albino jackdaw a while back. I've never seen a part-albino rook though (though I don't see even normal-coloured rooks that often).

  3. Words April 7, 2008 at 11:04 pm #

    Thanks Andy. I had plenty goes to get it right 😉

  4. Words April 7, 2008 at 11:04 pm #

    Adele, somewhere I'm sure I've got a jackdaw sporting a white feather but I may not have processed it so searching is going to take some time.

  5. Vulpes vulpes April 8, 2008 at 12:04 am #

    Didn't you hear? White feathers are the latest fashion accessory – all the rage for Spring I gather. :p

  6. ALLY_G April 8, 2008 at 5:04 am #

    Such wonderful photos! I really love it. :heart: 🙂

  7. Flying Red Fox Blog April 8, 2008 at 6:04 pm #

    Lovelly Rook 🙂 Iam not quite sure how to distinguish a Crow from a Rook, they look the same!

  8. Words April 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm #

    Mark, it's mainly in the beak. The crow has a smooth beak, but the rook has that fleshy/grey area near the face and generally looks a lot less tidy!

  9. Words April 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm #

    Thanks Elke!

  10. Words April 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm #

    Vulpes, I'll keep my eyes open then 😉

  11. BitzyMe April 9, 2008 at 3:04 am #

    Maybe??? the white feathers are a response to all of the polution and contamination they ingest in the garbage they eat.

    http://my.opera.com/BitzyMe/albums/showpic.dml?album=498201&picture=6880762

    Wonder what cheezits will do over long term? 😉

  12. anonymous January 5, 2012 at 9:01 pm #

    Sally x writes:

    I work on a dairy farm and we have two rooks with a few white tail and wing feathers , I see them most mornings. Was trying to find out how common this is.

  13. Words January 5, 2012 at 11:01 pm #

    Sally, it's fairly common among corvids. I was photographing a jackdaw today which had a nice scattering of white feathers.