[andy.s]

We have had a White Sparrow visiting our bird table, it is not an albino its eyes are black, it feeds with all the other sparrows and has become a daily visitor. Has anyone else seen one? I have managed to catch it on video.

[pattianne]

My husband spotted an albino blackbird today while we were fishing on the Mississippi River. I've never seen a white variant, but I think you should count yourself lucky to have one in your yard.

[Candice]

These birds are known as leucistic. A true albino will have a pink bill, red/pink eyes and pink legs. They are rather rare. A leucistic bird is more common., especially among the blackbird family. White coloration in birds that normally have coloring in certain areas has occured in over 100 species of birds just in the USA alone. Some species include Hummingbird, Blue-winged Teal, Mourning Dove, Grackle, American Crow, European Starling, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, etc.

[ledru]

Originally Posted by andy.s

We have had a White Sparrow visiting our bird table, it is not an albino its eyes are black, it feeds with all the other sparrows and has become a daily visitor. Has anyone else seen one? I have managed to catch it on video.

I just saw one this morning June 9, 2004 about 9:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time! It was absolutely amazing. I have never heard of such a bird, I give you my word. As soon as I could I did a "Google" with "white-sparrow" and found this site amongst others which I have not looked at yet.

[andy.s]

[wow you sound real excited by your white Sparrow, no doubt I was, the Sparrow I saw has survived its first year I see it often on my bird table but I have not seen it with any offspring this year.

[very boring banned member]

Originally Posted by Candice

These birds are known as leucistic. A true albino will have a pink bill, red/pink eyes and pink legs.

It is also said that leucistics have paler (creamy) plumage, and albinos have pure white patches - total albino lacking all the pigment (hence pink beak etc, because blood vessels glimmer through). White patches make bird easily visible to predators, and the lack of pigment also means weaker feathers (to resist weather & UV radiation). -Passers often have albinistic individuals, I've seen one with white head.

[andy.s]

Our white Sparrow has had babies, she has been in the garden with 5 chubby little ones. Only 1 has white on it, parts of the chest and back, its head, and wings are the usual brown, I also have some video of the white sparrow which I will share with you all.

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by andy.s

We have had a White Sparrow visiting our bird table, it is not an albino its eyes are black, it feeds with all the other sparrows and has become a daily visitor. Has anyone else seen one? I have managed to catch it on video.

The most remarkable albino bird I have ever seen is a meadow pipit that I had to identify from an image. The bird was sat on a fence post but there was no other pioint of reference with regard to comparing size. To make things worse, the bird was also crouching slightly presumably in the wind. It suddenly becomes apparent that pipits really are part of the the thrush family. We always think of them as smaller, more delicate thrushes in appearance but devoid of a plumage reference or size comparison, this bird could easily have been a blackbird. Had I seen the bird moving, then I am certain I would have got it straightaway but not easy from a flat image.

[jonathan_]

I noticed a creamish-white sparrow in my garden about 3 wks ago. It wasn't an albino, - it had black eyes, and had normal coloured feet and beak. It's feathers were creamish-white, although through binoculars, there appeared to be a couple of small specks (possibly single feathers) of normal colouration.

Despite looking out for it on subsequent days, I didn't notice it return until earlier today (3wks later).
It has changed a little since I last saw it. Whilst still predominently creamish-white (prob. 98-99%, certainly 95%+), there's now a little more normal colouration. Mostly on the upper edge (i.e. shoulder) of the wings, but also noticeable in a couple of small patches on the head. It's much less noticeable on the left side than the right, in both instances.

Of course, it's possible that it's not the same bird (although in 10yrs+ here, I've not seen any other sparrows like this before).

On both occasions the bird appears to be part of a small flock of 10-20 sparrows, and doesn't seem to be attracting any hostility from it's companions.

[stepsus]

I have a white sparrow that has been a regular visitor to my garden since early summer. Does anyone know if this is quite common. I have a picture, its not very clear, it was taken through my kitchen window.

[2fools]

it flew down 2 weeks ago (mid-november 2007) with a small flock of sparrows in new york city , where i live. it was all white with a black or dark head and neck. same size as the other birds. just like one of the pack. i kept staring at it. i had the time. many of us feed the birds on this block and the sparrows and mourning doves are not at all shy. i haven't seen it again. does anyone have any ideas. there's nothing close in my eastern birds book. of course, i don't have a camera phone.
sheila s

[RICHARD DAWKINS]

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment....1&d=1197067352
4-661.gif Yes here is another

[charliemomof4]

I have seen this white sparrow on my back porch several times in the last few months. I know this isn't the greatest picture, but I will keep trying.

[lou salomon]

hi henri and welcome to birdforum!

shapewise and with that strong bill with curved culmen it mostly reminds me of a house finch. let's see what people from your side of the pond (more experienced with this species) think about this interesting leucistic bird.

[charliemomof4]

These are some pictures that I took in August. I am pretty sure that it is the same white bird as the one I photographed this month. One is with the sparrow, I always see them together. One other is by itself on the porch. The final picture is of the white bird in a tree. This is why I concluded that it was a white sparrow.

[MLoyko]

I would say it is a leucistic house sparrow

[Parula6]

Anybody have a notion what's going on with Henri's white sparrow's feet? It's got some funky claw action going on there.