Leucistic Black-bellied Sandgrouse - Nizzana, Israel. November 10th, 2010.
Leucistic Black-bellied Sandgrouse (center) - Nizzana, Israel. November 10th, 2010. The only image of the underparts. The black belly patch and undersides to the primaries appear washed out gray, not black.After years of looking at sandgrouse in Israel I don't recall ever seeing an aberrant bird of any species but this 'blond' Black-bellied Sandgouse stood out like a sore thumb! It was roughly comparable to seeing a first-year white-winged gull amongst a flock of Herring Gulls. Nice bird indeed and one of the highlights of a fantastic morning watching sandgrouse in Nizzana. By pure coincidence, Martin Garner has just posted an interesting feature on leucism on his excellent Birding Frontiers blog.
