[texbirds] Re: Interesting Golden-fronted Woodpecker in west Austin
- From: Jake McCumber <jake_mccumber@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:58:35 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Mikael and Texbirders,
Cool woodpecker. I wonder if you were able to note much about the uppertail
coverts of this bird. The pictures show white central tail feathers - a good
feature for Red-bellied, but it also appears that they are completely white (as
opposed to barred/spotted) and what little of the rump is visible also appears
unspotted.
I've seen a lot of yellow in otherwise apparently full Red-bellieds and this
has pretty much always been easily chalked up to xanthochromism. This is also
well documented for the species and not just personal anecdote. The most
memorable of these I've seen is an adult male Red-bellied Woodpecker where all
the red was replaced with yellow (I did not see the belly). I've also seen
mixes and matches of the head patches, particularly like how your bird has a
yellowish forehead. It also seems that there can be variability in the tones
of the belly feathers.
Your bird is intriguing, though, with the apparently unspotted or lightly
spotted rump and central tail feathers and description of yellow belly
feathers. Sources such as Birds of North America Online suggest that
hybridization is actually pretty rare for these species. Part of me would call
this an oddball Red-bellied Woodpecker, with intermediate levels of
xanthochromism and especially pale tail/rump feathers. However, the mixture of
features in all three regions of the body (head, belly, tail/rump) is quite
interesting. Is this expression of introgression from historic intermingling
or something else?
I know this didn't clear anything up, but I just thought I'd pass on some
thoughts and see if anyone else finds this interesting.
Cheers and thanks for sharing,
Jake McCumber
Austin
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