At 1230 on 26 August 1980, while making counts of Band-tailed Pigeons (Columba fasciata) at an artificial bait site, I observed an albinistic bandtail near Evergreen, Jefferson County, Colorado. This pigeon was with four normally-colored bandtails and landed in a tree approximately 40 m from my vehicle. I viewed the aberrant pigeon through a 15–60x spotting scope and recorded its general appearance. The feathers on the head, back and dorsal side of the wings and tail were buff-yellow to cream-colored (Smithe 1975). The tip of the tail was lighter but the terminal band was indistinct. The nape was purple-iridescent but the neck crescent was absent. The breast feathers were buff-colored. The pigeon had spectrum yellow legs and feet but a glaucous bill, and appeared similar in size to another nearby immature bandtail.
The buff-yellow plumage of this bandtail was almost certainly caused by loss of pigment or schizochroism (Harrison 1963). In Rock Doves (C. livia), “yellow” plumage refers to a dilute erythristic form. Both the normal eumelanin and phaeomelanin pigment concentrations were probably reduced in the plumage of the observed pigeon. It could be classified as a nonmelanic schizochroic (Harrison 1966).