23 June 2023
RILEY COUNTY (KSNT) – A Riley County couple spotted an oddity of nature in their backyard this past week.
Richard and Lucia Jones could hardly believe their eyes when they spotted something small and white hopping around their backyard. What they saw was a small bird with no color pigmentation, a feature often attributed to albinism.
“We just noticed it over by the fence and saw an adult robin taking care of it and hopping around with it,” Richard said. “The adult was not only trying to encourage it but brought an insect over to it and stuck it in its mouth.”
Richard said he’s never seen anything like it before, commenting that, “It’s really just a beautiful sight.”
“I would say its miraculous,” Lucia said. “It’s such a rare thing. We feel very blessed.”
KSNT 27 News spoke with wildlife experts to learn more about how common albinism is in nature. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) Migratory Game Bird Manager Tom Bidrowski said the sighting by the Jones family was very interesting.
“While uncommon, KDWP get a few reports of mis-coloration of birds. Albinism, leucism, dilute or melanism are common examples,” Bidrowski said. “True albinism is rare, but robins seem to be a little more common than other birds with one study reporting 8% of all albino bird being robins and 1 in 30,000 robins being albino.”
Bidrowski said the driving factors behind mis-coloration include mutations, injury and diet. An animal impacted by albinism could have its chances of survival lowered.
“Birds often depend on cryptic coloration and being all white in color may affect its ability to hide from predators,” Bidrowski said. “Bird colorations are important in attracting a mate and being mis-colored could also affect the bird’s ability to pass on those traits.”