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White sparrow in Texas - Albino or leucistic?

04/01/2012 08:57:35 birds/birds_2011_june/sparrow_leucism

Albino sparrow in Texas

January 2012. This photo was sent to us by Cheryl Sikich from Texas. Cheryl asked us if this bird was an albino or a leucistic bird. Usually, an albino bird will have no colouration at all, and the eyes will be pink. But to be honest, we are not sure in this case - Let us know your thoughts.

Leucism (or Leukism)
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.

Albinism is a different condition. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that in albinism the eyes are usually pink or red, and albinism affects the entire animal, not just patches.

This occasionaly causes very excited biologists to think they have discovered a new species, when in fact leucism is the cause of the unusual markings they have seen.

Click here to see our gallery of albino and leucistic animals and birds.

Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment

Dream Bird

I was searching this morning for the bird that I saw in my dream. It appeared to be a completely white sparrow, who flew to me & whispered something into my right ear... Nipped it a bit. I woke up thinking: What it would be like to see this bird for real...and here it was...in front of my eyes!

Posted by: Sonya Rose Atkinson | 22 Jan 2012 20:41:05

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