Amazing photographs of an albino Ruby-throated Hummingbird that has been visiting a yard in Staunton, Virginia, can be viewed here.
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I wonder why the gorget isn’t visible in any of those awesome pictures? I would have thought that as structural pigmentation, it shouldn’t be affected by albinism.
Perhaps it is a female?
That is certainly a nice, simple explanation! 🙂
I looked into this a bit more, and it seems like it could also possibly be a male. Apparently the physical structures in hummingbirds which cause the gorget coloration are themselves made out of melanin. So it seems like even a male albino hummingbird wouldn’t have a gorget flash.
This is fascinating.I doubt I will ever see one. So thank you so much. I found the information about the gorget especially interesting.