Arizona Docent

leucistic flycatcher

A few weeks ago I was at Sweetwater Wetlands, a manmade wetlands here in Tucson that is part of the sewage treatment and water reclamation plant. I photographed both of these vermillion flycatchers by an artificial stream right at the entrance. The one on the right is the typical coloration but the one on the left (I found out later) is a leucistic or white morph, much like white lions or white tigers (except without the inbreeding).
A few weeks ago I was at Sweetwater Wetlands, a manmade wetlands here in Tucson that is part of the sewage treatment and water reclamation plant. I photographed both of these vermillion flycatchers by an artificial stream right at the entrance. The one on the right is the typical coloration but the one on the left (I found out later) is a leucistic or white morph, much like white lions or white tigers (except without the inbreeding).
 
Great shots! Isn't it weird how much you rely on colour and pattern to ID birds? I've seen Vermillion Flycatchers a couple of time in European zoos, and would probably have been able to recognise the 'normal' one (being quite a distinctive bird). But shown the lefthand bird and forced to rely solely on body shape and size I wouldn't have got anywhere near the correct ID.
 
I would not have been able to identify it either. I only knew because a birder that was leaving as I walked in said "the white flycatcher is active" and when I looked up "white flycatcher sweetwater wetlands" on Google, I found another photographer's photo from a couple weeks earlier identifying it as a leucistic vermillion flycatcher.
 

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