Today’s photo of the week was taken outside the Larrikin Creek hut in Kahurangi National Park. It might not look like one of our native birds, but it is. This is a leucistic weka.
Photo: James Gibson
Leucism is a condition similar to albinism, where animals lack pigmentation. The condition causes pale, or patchy skin, hair, feathers or scales. It differs from albinism as it doesn’t affect an animal’s eyes, which are generally pink or red in albino individuals.
My favourite national park the Kahurangi….fantastic photo of a very different weka. Wow. Never would have thought they looked can look like that.
What a cutie! We narrowly missed running over a weka chick on the Arthur’s Pass highway this morning after scooted across the road right in front of us. So glad we didn’t the wee feller (or felless). We need as many as we can get to keep impersonating kiwi for the tourists, right? 🙂