Earlier this month, I attended the annual Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest in St. Petersburg, Florida. One of the featured raptors was this leucistic adult male Red-Tailed Hawk.
His striking and unusual plumage drew a lot of attention and questions about his condition.
Apparently, this hawk was doing just fine on his own until he consumed poisoned prey. Thankfully, someone rescued him and took him to a rehabber, who discovered he had a problem with his left eye (see photo below) and was determined to be unreleasable.
You can see in the photo below that he has the red tail.
I've seen leucism occur in birds before, but not to this extent. He is quite a beauty.
Although leucistic hawks are rare, they're not unheard of and they do manage to survive in the wild. Here is video of a leucistic female feeding her chick last spring in Tennessee.
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