As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had been seeing, what I had thought, an Albino Robin on our peony farm. Finally at 8 PM tonight, he or she appeared in its favorite spot down by our east peony field close to our pond. We have not seen it for a few days so instead of trying to photograph from our second story window roughly 250 yards away, I ran out the door and tried to get closer. No time for the monopod so shooting freehand with the big glass proved to be a bit trying. So for now, here are the best pics I could get.
After taking these pics the bird flew about 300 yards west so off I went running to see if I could get closer. Little did I realize that I’m still wearing my inside slippers running through a rather wet area. Oh well, slippers can always be replaced! There it is in the recently cultivated field! Somewhat closer were these shots so perhaps a blind may be in order to wait for a closer shot? Off it flew back to the east with no idea where it landed.
Ok I’m done running around our fields and our neighbors field so will end with this post as the light was diminishing quickly. I did some research on these amazing and rare color appearance on the American Robin. As best as I can ascertain, the closest photographs appear to be a ‘Piebald Robin’. Other names like ‘Partial Albino’ and ‘leucism Robin’ were also mentioned. In any event, this is/was a once in a lifetime event for this amateur bird photographer. Wouldn’t it be great if this Piebald Robin stayed around for Peony Field Days especially for the photography clubs that are coming out? I’m still waiting for the perfect shot when she or he spends some time in our peonies!