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Hi:  I'm in Northeast PA and we have a lot of sparrows coming to the feeders.  There is one that is so much lighter than the others but has the same markings, shape, size, & beak shape.  The normal sparrows are brown and buff but this one is cream colored.  There's just that one.  Please let me know your thoughts.  Thanks.

Sparrows are rarely albino, but that does not mean it never happens. Sometimes the birds are partially albino, like 100% natural colors, and areas pure white, but every once and a while the birds is partially albino all over.  50% natural colors and 50% albino.  Resulting in a light cream colored bird.  Just out of curiosity, what species of sparrow is it?

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Good Luck Birding
Josh

Hi Josh:

Thanks for the reply.  It appears to be a female house sparrow.  She'll come with a group of them and really stands out from the others colorwise.  I don't see her everyday, though.  I'm going to try to get a picture of her.

 

Sounds to me like you got a leucistic sparrow. Albino birds will have white patches, where as leucistic birds will have the same markings, but extremely pale. Leucistic birds are much more common than albino birds, so this is probably what you have. A picture would really be nice.

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featherbrain

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Thanks for the info.  I've never heard that term and learned something new today ! There's a good photo in my gallery (shadoe185).  It shows the bird next to a normal colored one.

You're right...it has the same markings but is very pale.

 

http://www.yarmouthbirds.com/yard_birds.asp Go here to see a Leuscitic House Sparrow.

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featherbrain

Try out my photo quiz!

Life is simple: Eat, Sleep, and BIRD!

"Walk softly and carry a big scope!"

Wow.  Completely white tail tip.  The rest of the bird seems to have normal coloring.  Did you view the one in my gallery?  The whole bird is cream colored and light carmel.  No brown at all.

Hi there,

 Yesterday I saw what I thought was an albino sparrow, and in searching google, I came to your description. Pictures ... well I just signed up and created a gallery, only, I don't know how I give you the link. Name is George's gallery, login is gv61, email, g.vittman@hotmail.com

Hello George:  I will look for your gallery.  You will love this website!  Thanks for posting.

Hi I am in Illinois and have been watching an albino house sparrow most of the day. It is cream color with

a few very light brown spots, its eyes are red in the sunlight. It stays low in the grass when feeding, unlike the

other sparrows with it. I can't get close enough to take a picture and I don't have a camera with a telescopic lens.

I have been watching it with a 20 60/60 scope.

 

It is so exciting to see them.  So beautiful.   

I haven't seen my albino this year, though.

Hi, I got pictures! I will have them on line within 30 minutes.

What a beauty!  Thanks for sharing the pics.  It'll be interesting to see if it comes back next year.  Mine was only around for one season.  I hope nothing bad happened to it.

I can't tell you how happy I was to see your question, because I have one visiting me [in Dallas, Texas] every morning with the rest of our new generation.  I see that you saw yours two years ago, but mine is so sweet I know you must remember yours.  Everyone thought I was nuts when I told them about it, but agreed that that was exactly what it was when they saw it.  I don't know much about birds and don't belong to any groups, but I feed sparrows, crows [it's funny to watch the parents call the kids in for breakfast and wait until they have finished before they come down from the highest gable], bluejays, starlings, woodpeckers and wrens each morning at sunrise.  [I'm not sure what happened to my cardinals--I've always had two pairs until this spring.]  It just makes my day go better.

Hello!  So glad that you got to see one too!  I haven't seen them since.  It was a real treat.  Sounds like you have a lot of the same birds as I do up here in Northeast PA.  I'm about 10 minutes from Dallas, Pa.  So the two Dallases are similar.  : )The woodpeckers are here but not very many that I can spot.  Lot's of bluejays, starlings, crows, cardinals, sparrows, chickadees , cowbirds, goldfinches and many more.  This is a great sight to help identify the birds you can't recognize.

Drop me a line if you get any pictures of your sparrow.  I'd love to see them.