Several species of doves occur in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. Some of them such as the Ring-necked Dove (Streptopelia capicola) is frequently ignored because of its abundance.

During one of our visits to the park in September 2018, among a flock of these doves we spotted one that did not quite match the expected bird, so we looked at it more carefully.

From a distance, its plumage appeared paler that its companions and it looked “washed” in certain areas of its body.

We had seen leucism before (See: https://bushsnob.com/2017/01/05/odd-bird/) and I have described the phenomenon as follows: “Animal coloration can deviate from the standard, from complete melanism to albinism. Leucism (leukism) is one of the intermediate forms defined as a phenotype resulting from blemishes in pigment cell differentiation during development with the consequence that the entire animal or patches of its body being white as they lack the cells capable of making pigment”.

I believe that what we observed this time is a case of “dilution”, a condition where the plumage colour often appears ‘washed out’ (i.e. ‘diluted’). In dilution, melanin cells are present (unlike in leucistic birds) but produce less pigment than normal. Clearly, humans need to classify everything!