[va-bird] Re: White Squirrel

An interesting theory. I was thinking that maybe they don't recognize a
leucistic or albino animal as another member of their species. Maybe the
House Sparrows thought the albino was another bird and not a House Sparrow?
House Sparrows aren't exactly inconspicuous in normal plumage, sitting on a
railing or on top of a green bush. Just a theory. Anyone have any other
thoughts?

Michael Shapiro
Richmond

----- Original Message -----
From: "John & Cathy Messina" <jncmessina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Va Bird List" <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Va Bird listserver"
<va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 12:35 PM
Subject: [va-bird] White Squirrel


>
> 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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