‘What is that?’: Rare white red-tailed hawk spotted in Kelowna

Vernon photographer Mark R. Lawrence spotted a very rare and beautiful bird while driving along a forest service road in the Kelowna area recently.

A red-tailed hawk was perched atop a pine tree but it wasn’t the typical rusty colour of its species, it was almost pure white.

“There was an open field with trees in it and I noticed a white bird and put on the brakes,” Lawrence said. “It was the size of an eagle but it was white and I thought, ‘what is that?’”

He got his camera out and put on a big lens and was able to snap three pictures before the hawk flew off, and only one photo was clear. The bird was roughly 168 metres away.

“Well, I had just seconds, hawks are jumpy and tend to fly off as soon as they sense someone looking at them,” he said.

The bird Lawrence photographed has leucism, a genetic mutation in birds, mammals and reptiles that inhibits the production of pigments, causing feathers, hair and skin to be white or partially white, according to Birdful.org. Unlike albinism, which is the complete absence of pigments, leucistic animals retain some pigment and can have normal eye colouration.

Estimates vary on how frequently the condition occurs from 1 in every 1000 birds to 1 in every 10,000.

The condition doesn’t impair flight or vision in birds but the lack of natural camouflage colouring can increase predation risk and influence mate selection and therefore breeding success.

Lawrence has photographed wildlife for a couple of decades and the unusual sighting was a first for him.

“I’ve never seen one before in my life and most people never will,” he said. “I’ll probably never see this again. Luckily, the picture is clear.”

Go here to see Mark R. Lawrence’s photography.