Erythrism is supposed to be food-related.

I remember years ago, we had pink pigeons in Glossop,locals were baffled by this but the mystery was solved whe they were informed that they used to go to a local maggot farm , (long since shut ) and pick off the maggots
which were in diffrent pits and had dye in the pits for whatever reason they dye maggots for, and hence got covered in pink dye.

There's a thread with loads of links to photos of similar birds here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=116183&highlight=magpie+coloured

Like Phil said I was sure I remembered some similar reports - took me a while to find them though!

Apparently there is a condition that birds can get which can give them an excess of red pigments in their feathers and is known as ERYTHRISM ( information by neil southworth Chorley nats history) i am convinced the bird had not been bathing in clay , the bird was spotted on the bridge over the ship canal for the records.

-- Edited by gary lilley on Wednesday 18th of May 2011 06:43:37 PM

Sounds like the magpie had a bath in the wrong type of water? Water coloured by orange clay would perhaps do it.

gary lilley wrote:

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Stuck on the M60 this afternoon i spotted a magpie next to the road which i can only desribe as a giant rose coloured starling , the normal white plumage was pink , ive personally nether seen anything like this in my life, as anybody else seen this bird?

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I seem to remember something similar being reported somewhere in Cheshire a year or two back Gary!!!

Stuck on the M60 this afternoon i spotted a magpie next to the road which i can only desribe as a giant rose coloured starling , the normal white plumage was pink , ive personally nether seen anything like this in my life, as anybody else seen this bird?