Your BIRDS

[rt]

I was just wondering what every one is flying? Iam flying a passage rt hen.

[bobdale]

Same here. And as she gets more experienced her attitude is getting more intense... Ya gotta love her!

[Weasel]

Nothing at the moment. I will be flying a Tiercel harris next season.

[Austin]

I'm flying a second year RT female. Was thinking about going to Wyoming and capturing a Feruginous but cancelled the idea after much studing of the species and conversing with other falconers who have flown them, great bird for wide open country on jacks, I would like to get a harris female next year still don't known, my dream would be to find a white RT, pure white

[Minca]

Nah, i like the pie bald ones. The ones that are mostly white with blotches of normal color, like the one Falcon1 posted. I think their even cooler lookin. ;D

[Austin]

I don't know about that after looking at that photo you put on here, that's all I've been thinking about since I saw it. I was even planning a long tent trip this fall along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers thinking just maybe that would be a good location to find a white RT

[Ooby]

GL. The only one i have heard of being spotted lately was up in northern CA, and it is being tracked extensively by Raptor Foundations.

From what i learned reading about that one, pure white (albino) red tails are rare as hell. Like beyond normal rare.

[Tiercel78]

I worked with a white RT that came into the Conservancey really sick. Problems with feather mites, internal parasites had him down to bare bones. Those birds have a real hard time with feather mites due to feathers being white. This bird was almost completely white except for a few dark coverets. The director of the project and the state talked a long while about releasing the bird and it's chances of survival. The project ended up keeping the bird for educational use. This is all personal opinion but I really wasn't impressed with it. I guess just a little freakish with the white talons and beak. I much rather have a nice Eastren bird in good feather. Oh and Most of the white RTs that I have seen are not full albino. They have normal color eyes. If they where real albinos, they would die due to the sensitivity to light. Thier eyes wouldn't fuction the way a normal RT's would. The term that is usally used (as far as what I've heard) is Partial-Albino. The reason why I think we don't see that many Full or Partial RTs is simple. Mother Nature weeds them out. Well..except for the select few that learn to survive with the handicap. Think about how hard it is for those RTs to cloak thier surroundings being white. JMO-Zach

[Minca]

Exactly.
Although I'm not sure that I believe that having red eyes signifies a true albino. Since I've seen hybridized pet rats with red eyes that were not albino's. And just like dark morphs are called Melanistic, those with excessive white are said to have Albinism. Don't have to be full on Albino's.

[Tiercel78]

I'm not 100% on the Albinisim I need to read up on it more. You may be right but I know in Ocular albinism, the hair and skin pigmmentation may not be effected. Maybe the word "True" was the wroung one to use.

[Ooby]

Ya i was talking about pure albinos. The one that they are tracking up north is a true albino. White everything with pink/red eyes, not a spot of normal coloring on it.

[Tiercel78]

Here is a quick ref:

ALBINO ANIMALS

Albinism is due to one of several gene mutations that affect the production of normal pigmentation. True albino, or amelanistic, animals lack melanin and are white with no markings and with unpigmented pink eyes. In some species there is also a form known as blue-eyed (or "partial") albinism. There are also various degrees of patchy albinism where only part of the body is affected. Some forms of albino are temperature dependent, for example the Siamese cat has a form of albinism where pigmentation develops on cooler areas of the body (the head, tail and legs) but is inhibited on the warmer parts of the body. Piebaldism occurs when albinism only affects certain areas of skin; the unpigmented patches are due to localised mutations in skin cells during embryo development. If the mutation occurs early in development, the patches are larger. If it occurs later, the patches are smaller.

Anerythristic albinos lack the red colour. The actual colour and pattern of the animal depends on what other colours are in the pattern. One effect might be a bluish-grey animal. Axanthic albinos lack the yellow colour. The actual colour and pattern of the animal depends on what other colours are in the pattern. Tyrosinase-negative albinos lack tyrosinase (an enzyme which synthesises melanin) in their cells; this usually produces a pale yellowish or cream animal with pink-eyes. The more common Tyrosinase Positive albino is unable to synthesise melanin, but is able to synthesise tyrosinase; this often results in a fawn or lavender (platinum) colour.

Leucism is similar to albinism and is often mistaken for albinism; leucistic animals are white with dark eyes and some pigmentation, for example ghost markings.

[Tiercel78]

Really! Red eyes and everything..Hum .. thats kinda neat. I'd like to see a picture of that bird. Thats probally why that bird is getting so much attention. That is rare for a bird like the one your talking about to survive.

[Tiercel78]

I found some more info for y'all.

Importance of Pigments
Pigments do more for feathers than simply give them color. They also make the feathers stronger. That is one of the reasons that the people who first domesticated ducks preferred white ones; they were easier to pluck. In the wild, colored feathers last longer without fraying than white ones do. Pigments in the irises and retinas of our eyes protect us from light. Without these pigments, people with albinism often must wear sunglasses. Birds and other wild animals can't wear sunglasses, and many of them eventually go blind. Fortunately, most albino robins are only partial albinos. With pigments in their eyes, they have better vision and can sometimes live as long as robins with normal colors.

Yes, it was talking about Robins. Though, it applys to other birds too

[Austin]

I'm glad someone brought up the subject of feathers vs color. Having raised racing pigeons for thirty years I have learnd that 90 percent of the white pigeons were never good on long races of 250 plus miles. The feathers when they arrived home were badly deterorated on the ends espically the flight feathers. Now, these pigeons even though they were pure whites always had dark eyes, any bird with a light colored eye never returnd home. One thing we noticed in pigeons and colors was, white was the oppsite end of black, and in most cases the feathers were stronger in the balck than in the white, how ever the blacks flew no better than the whites. But of course we are talking about captive bred birds and the interference of nature by man, which is not the case with hawks. I heard in Calf. there are a lot of lighter colored RT's and even the tail in some cases are white instead of red.