A Red-tailed Hawk with pure white feathers perches in the bare branches of a a tree. @darontansley
Congratulations to iNaturalist user @darontansley for winning the November 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Their photo of a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) with leucism perched upon a tree branch received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.
From a distance, you might think that the large white bird of prey is a Snowy Owl, its pure white feathers standing out against a background of dark branches. But a closer look reveals its smaller head and dark eyes, marking it as not an owl, but some other bird of prey. Without its characteristic red tail feathers and dappled brown and white feathers, you might not guess that it’s actually a Red-tailed Hawk. The reason for the snowy appearance of this individual is leucism. Leucism is a genetic condition in which some or all parts of an animal’s skin, hair, or in this case, feathers, lack cells capable of producing pigment. It’s different from albinism in that albino individuals generally have red eyes, while leucistic individuals usually have the eye color typical of their species. Leucism can sometimes make birds more difficult to identify, lacking their typical feathers and coloring. You might remember that last December, the winner of the VAL Photo-observation of the Month was a leucistic Black-capped Chickadee. Looking at the overall shape, structure, and behavior of birds with leucism helps with identifying the species.
Speaking of species identification, one of our goals for the New Year is to reach 1 million research-grade observations on the Vermont Atlas of Life. Currently, VAL has nearly 1.4 million records on iNaturalist, but less than 870,000 of those observations are “research grade.” Once observations have been uploaded, they need to be independently identified and verified by other users. It’s called crowd-sourced identification, and the more people that are able to add an identification to an observation, the more likely it is correct. Only these verified data can be used for research and conservation. That’s where community scientists like you come in! You can make a difference in conservation just by verifying observations on VAL. Add your identifications to observations that are labeled as “Needs ID” now!
With 2,772 observations submitted by 613 observers in November, it was a great month. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.
Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!
