An albino Red Junglefowl

on 29th January 2011

Lena Chow was at Singapore’s Pasir Ris Park on the afternoon of 20th January 2011 when she saw a family of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) that included an albino female. The male and the nearby female with chick were clearly comfortable with the albino. However, Lena commented, “I’m just told that albinos have red eyes. Since the bird in my picture seems to have normal coloured eyes, it’s probably leucistic.”

When shown the image and video, R Subaraj wrote: “Very interesting! Looks plausible. Seems to have the typical fan tail of female junglefowl, and appears to have a facial wattle. It also seems to have the pinkish eyes of an albino. I can’t be certain though. The male looks authentic enough. Pasir Ris has certainly become a stronghold of the Red Junglefowl.”

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YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

2 responses

  1. That’s a great sighting. We see the Red Junglefowl often in Khao Yai national park in Thailand on our tours, but never seen an albino (leucistic) individual. As I’m very curious where our ‘food’ originally comes from, I’m always excited to see these on a tour. Though, for some of our guests it seems to be hard to get enthusiastic about something that looks so similar to what they see at home. Even some bird watchers…!
    Luckily there are enough people who appreciate it.

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