White mockingbird frequenting Little Rock yard isn’t albino, but it’s striking nonetheless

By JERRY BUTLER SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Posted: November 9, 2015 at 5:45 a.m.

Credit: Courtesy of Kathy Aday

When it first showed up in her yard in Little Rock, Kathy Aday's neighbors didn't know what to make of the ghostly white bird.

Was it an exotic winged species from another country or an escapee from the zoo?

It was shaped like a very common bird in Arkansas, in fact, the most common backyard variety, a Northern mockingbird. The mockingbird is so common in the region it is the state bird for Arkansas and three adjacent states.

Besides the right silhouette, the bird that was flitting about in Aday's area, Rivercrest Drive in Walton Heights, had the edgy behavior and the chirps and slender body, but its color was all wrong. Mockingbirds are typically gray with light underparts.

This one had pearly white feathers with dark legs, bill and eyes.

Aday was out of town when a neighbor sent her the photograph. The photo was shared on social media by her neighborhood association, and eventually found its way to Dan Scheiman, bird conservation director for Audubon Arkansas. Scheiman identified it as a Northern mockingbird.

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