As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Unusual bird spotted near Osakis

By Al Edenloff on Jan 20, 2015 at 7:32 a.m.

Jim and Gail Trutwin have had an unusual guest at their home on Smith Lake west of Osakis the past couple of months – a white downy woodpecker at their suet feeder.

The bird’s unusual coloring led the Trutwins to believe it may be an albino woodpecker but its eyes are black, not the tell-tale pink associated with albinos.

Also, the bird isn’t pure white; there is some color in the feathers. According to information on the National Audubon Society’s website, the bird could be a partial albino or it could have Leucism, a genetic mutation preventing melanin, which affects a bird’s coloring.

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