iN VIDEO: Pure white starling spotted in South Okanagan flock

Keremeos resident Trish Broderick was driving to work recently when she saw something she hadn’t seen before, a pure white starling hopping around with its flock on the roadside.

“I noticed it right away and pulled over, it was beautiful,” she said.

“I had to go to work but could have watched it forever.”

The odd coloured feathers on the bird is from a rare genetic condition called leucism that prevents pigments from reaching parts or all of a bird’s feathers, while the eye and skin pigments stay normal, according to Audubon.

More rare to see is a bird with albinism that appears entirely white with pink eyes and skin.

“It didn’t have red eyes so I don’t think it’s albino,” Broderick said. “It was pure white and the beak was yellow like a starling.”

Leucism and albinism occur in roughly 1 in 30,000 birds, with leucism being more common, according to Avian Report. 

Broderick said the starlings were spotted near a little pond close to her house which she hopes will attract it to insects and keep the ghost-coloured bird she is calling Casper around.

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