Leucism, the absence of pigment in all or parts of the body in animals, is a genetic condition often mistaken for albinism (leucistic animals havenormally pigmented eyes). It’s found in all sorts of animals, from reptiles to mammals, and Scott Ritchie has spotted it in Australian ducks. Scott sent some pictures, which you can enlarge by clicking on them, and his captions are indented:
The leucistic Plumed Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna eytoni), is back at Hasties Swamp, Queensland, the white one in in middle. We have seen it for at least 2 years running. And “he/she” appears to have busy, with at least one (several white light feathers head and breast), and perhaps 3 (2 based on “forehead” feathers) individuals showing leucicism traits. It’s interesting that they were hanging together at the log to the left of the hide.
This last picture is of normal-type duck:
Very cool. When we lived on Orcas Island, we regularly saw leucistic deer. Several percent had leucism, which made you think that you might be seeing a goat when you were actually looking at a Black-tailed deer—a subspecies of the Mule deer common on the mainland. Our deer were also small, as is common on islands. Presumably, low gene flow with mainland deer allowed the leucistic trait to reach high frequency in the population.
Here’s one from nearby San Juan Island: https://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/black-tail-deer-with-partial-leucism/.
Neat! And nice action flight photo.