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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