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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