Nature
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Birders in Michigan are scratching their heads over unusual photos of a snowy owl. The animal is perfectly perched on a telegraph pole, but instead of snow white and black feathers, the owl's feathers are colored orange.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Spotted in Huron County, the bird was photographed by amateur wildlife photographer Julie Maggert. Since sharing the images on social media, theories have been rife about what could have caused the bird's feathers to become orange.
One theory suggested that the owl had become covered in plane de-icer from nearby Huron County Memorial Airport. “The most likely explanation is that it was de-icing fluid at an airport, since some formulations are that red-orange color,” said Dr Scott Weidensaul, a co-founder of snowy owl research organization Project SNOWstorm, told the New York Times.
Birds can become covered in dye or paint, either accidentally or by human means; sometimes they can even change color due to curry.
However, others were skeptical of this idea and suggested the feathers were the result of a genetic mutation. Genetic mutations can play weird tricks on all kinds of animals, turning feathers and skin white, black, or even yellow.
“Something environmentally turned on the pheomelanin pigment synthesis pathway to make this bird over-express this rufous, chestnutty color,” Professor Kevin McGraw told Michigan Live. McGraw suggested that the bird's mother could have been exposed to a chemical that was then passed down to her chick, causing the coloration difference. “Through toxins, pollutants, other types of environmental stressors, including pesticides, heavy metal contaminants, or oxidative damage. Those are several things that come to mind with this bird,” he said.
Male snowy owls are almost completely white, while female owls have dark bars across their feathers. It's unlikely that the true cause of this owl's mystery feathers will ever be known.
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, they have been aware of the bird since the middle of January. “The department has no plans to try to capture it for any reason,” Karen Cleveland, a wildlife biologist for the department, told the New York Times, “so we’re unlikely to ever have a conclusive explanation for this coloring.”
