June 9, 2006 At about 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 8, I observed an albinistic/leucistic Eastern Kingbird at 1892 Shiloh Road in Tusculum, Greene County. (The bird has been there for at least several days and was recently reported by the property owner to Don Holt, who saw it briefly a couple of days ago and notified me. I hope that Don will post his observations also.) I watched the bird for about ten minutes and noted the following: plumage: white overall with limited dark brownish gray at the bend of the wing, in the primaries, in the tertials, and in the rectrices; rectrices: short and spiky, suggestive of tail feathers of Bobolink; bill: dull pink; eyes: black legs: black voice: typical "electric spark" vocalization of Eastern Kingbird. I saw the left wing well for several minutes when the bird was perched but was not able to get much of a look at the right wing. In the brief view that I got, I formed the impression that the dark coloration on the wings was symmetrical, or nearly so. The overall jizz of the bird was typical of Eastern Kingbird except for the short, pointy-feathered tail. This was far more surprising to me than the white plumage. I could not determine if the rectrices were damaged or natural. The bird remained perched for most of the time I viewed it, but it sallied several times, often vocalizing while in flight. Thoughts, anyone? Don Miller Greeneville, Greene Co., TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________