| |
| Red-necked Falcon Falco chicquera chicquera
- Colour aberrant individual |
 |
| Photographer : | © Prashant Gokarankar |
| Location : | Udaipur, Rajasthan, India |
| Date : |
6 December 2013 |
| English synonyms: | Rednecked Falcon, Red-headed Falcon, Red-necked Kestrel, Red-headed Kestrel, Red-headed Merlin |
| Bird Family : | Falconidae - Falcons, Falconets & Kestrels |
| Bird Group : | CICONIIFORMES |
| Red Data Status : | Least Concern |
| Remarks : | The dark bird appears to be an aberrantly plumaged Red-necked Falcon, a melanistic individual or colour-sport, - probably the mate of the normal plumaged smaller (male) individual. Although superficially bearing some resemblance to a Sooty Falcon Falco concolor, closer examination shows structural features of Red-necked: wings extending only about two-thirds or the way down the tail, extensive bare orbital skin. Red-necked Falcons also form a year-round pair bond and frequently hunt together, so it is not unusual to see a pair together. - Eds.
[Note that the photographer has added another enlarged image of the dark bird in an inset on the top left of the photograph.]
I think this falcon is indeed a melanistic form of the Red-necked Falcon. Melanism can either have a heritable cause or a physical (food/health) cause. In this case the colouration of the plumage looks most as if it is a heritable cause (mutation). - Hein van Grouw
Refs.:
Grouw, Hein van (2006) Not every white bird is an albino: sense and nonsense about colour aberrations in birds. Dutch Birding 28: 79–89.
Grouw, Hein van (2013) What colour is that bird? The causes and recognition of common colour aberrations in birds. British Birds 106: 17-29. |
| |
