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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