FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: White Squirrel

["Andrew G. Clem" <agclem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Regarding albinos (mutants?), by sheer coincidence, I just posted a 
photo of what I consider to be an albino goldfinch on my Web site:

http://home.earthlink.net/~losclems/Photos/Albino_goldfinch1.jpg

It has beautiful white wings but otherwise normal dull yellow-green 
plumage. I've seen it in back of our apartment in Staunton off and on 
for about a month now. It feeds alongside the other goldfinches at 
our thistle seed sock feeder, and as far as I can tell there is no 
social discrimination against it.

Also, back in early summer I happened to see an extremely pale 
squirrel in the woods by the side of Route 876 in Augusta County, 
between the villages of Swoope and West View. I stopped to take one 
picture, but it was barely recognizable. What about the 
charcoal-furred squirrels that I used to see in Northern Virginia? 
Are they thriving or declining?


>While watching out my window in Alexandria as the usual neighborhood
>birds were eating seed, my husband and I saw a young, white squirrel. It
>was not albinistic, as it had gray hairs mixed sporadically throughout
>all the white fur and had dark eyes, but it was strikingly light
>colored. It apparently came with its mother, who seemed to be a typical
>gray squirrel, and we enjoyed watching them both eat our seed for about
>15 minutes. Another adult squirrel then arrived and attacked the white
>squirrel with unusual intensity. This adult wasn't content merely to
>drive the youngster away from the food, as is the rule here, but chased
>it all over the brick work of our home and bit the youngster whenever it
>could. The two ran away from sight over the rooftop, with the adult in
>hot pursuit and the youngster screeching.
>
>This behavior reminded me of the time several years ago when I saw an
>albinistic house sparrow show up on a bush near our home, then get
>mobbed by some other house sparrows in a noisy attack. The mob kept up
>the assault wherever the white bird landed, until all eventually flew
>off down the road. Is this response by the group toward an albinistic
>member of the same species typical? I can imagine that because white fur
>or feathers makes a creature a good target for predators around here,
>other members of the species might want to keep it away from them. Any
>thoughts?
>
>Cathy Messina
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-- 

=========================
Andrew G. Clem
Staunton, VA
http://home.earthlink.net/~losclems
=========================
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