We went birding by car this week with our little one at Hornsby Bend. We got excited when we spotted a leucistic bird for the first time. Identification was a challenge but our mentors said it was a European Starling. Normally, a European Starling would have black or brown plumage depending on the season.
Leucism “is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment, not just melanin.”~www.wikipedia.org
Of course, we saw other birds too. This is an Egyptian goose by the road.
Some Monk Parakeets landed on the tree in front of us.
Female Red-winged Blackbird.
Killdeer
Numerous Barn Swallows.
Here’s our little one. She has been keeping us happily busy and one of the reasons I haven’t blogged for awhile. She’s been a source of joy in our home.
Linking to:
Shey Loves, Life & Style 
The parakeets would be a super thrill for me! All the birdies are lovely~
Thanks. They were fun to watch. 🙂
Well!!! The best of all……….your darling daughter. I can now understand why you haven’t been around blogging much. She is soooooooo very precious. Congratulations on your sweet ‘new’ family member. The photo of her is priceless.
Love your bird photos. And with this Texas heat, I can understand why you photographed from the car. Great finds. I would love to get a photo of the Egyptian Goose myself. Lucky you.
Thank you very much for sharing this post with us bird enthusiasts at I’d Rather B Birdin’
Hi Anni, Thanks so much. It’s good to hear from you and it’s good to be back blogging even if it’s not as often as I want. Being a first-time mom, there’s a lot of things I need to learn along the way.
Hopefully, our daughter will love birds as much as we do. 🙂 🙂
Hello, your little one is adorable. Cute photo! I love all your birds, especially the parakeets, goose and swallows. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a happy day!
Thanks Eileen. We haven’t been birding much since our baby is still too young to go out in the heat but we managed to see some interesting birds from the car. 🙂
All the bird shots are wonderful (and your baby is adorable!) but I was thrilled to see that starling! Wow!
Thanks Marie. Yes, she’s our joy.
We were excited to see the leucistic starling too! 🙂
Lovely snaps of birds! I don’t know most of them and so learning their names and about the pigmentation condition was a lesson for me. Thank you for the same!
Have a Beautiful Day!
Peace 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you came by and learned something. 🙂
Great collection and fun on your excursion..nice Egyptian Goose!…:)JP
Thanks! 🙂
ooooh you spotted some amazing birdies!!! perfect timing on the parakeet capture!!!
Well, first of all, that’s a real sweet photo of your little one, adorable and I can feel the joy in your home. I also enjoyed your birds. I have heard of Leucism but have never seen a bird with this condition. Great post, thanks so much 🙂
The last picture made me smile. Babies are so darn cute. Most of these birds I have never seen. Too cool.
You have captured beautiful birds.
What an adoring pair of parakeets.