Just over two years ago, on August 8, 2018, I was walking through Brooklyn Heights when I saw a host of sparrows eating bread in the street. While sparrows usually do not gather en masse in the middle of the street, it was not a sight so unusual that it would usually make me stop. In this case, however, I noticed that one of the sparrows – or at least what I thought to be a sparrow – was white.
From my quick glance, I detected no notable difference between the white bird and its fellow feathered friends other than its color. Perhaps it was a rare albino sparrow? I pulled out my BlackBerry Classic to take a picture of the possible albino sparrow for future reference. However, before I could take the picture, a car entered the scene, dispersing the sparrows in every direction.
I never again crossed paths with the white bird. To this day, I cannot say for sure whether it was an albino sparrow or something else. Since I have not seen too many white birds in these parts generally, however, it was likely a rarer site than the simultaneous blue jay-black squirrel sighting I caught in Boerum Hill some two decades ago.
Have you ever seen an albino sparrow? Do you have reason to believe that the white bird I saw was not a sparrow at all? Feedback on these questions is welcome via our contact page.