Albino Crows Discovered in Canada

If you’re spending the summer months stuck in your office instead of soaking up some rays at the beach, you may be looking a little paler than you’d like – but you’re sure to have a little more color than the recently-discovered albino crows of East Vancouver, Canada.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on June 23 2008

If you’re spending the summer months stuck in your office instead of soaking up some rays at the beach, you may be looking a little paler than you’d like –but you’re sure to have a little more color than the recently-discovered albino crows of East Vancouver, Canada.

Several weeks ago, Pat Brand and his wife were peering out of their window and spotted a pure white bird, which they took for a pigeon or seagull. But it looked a bit different to them: “It still had the fluffy feather on its side, so I knew it was a fledgling. But it was pure white, real pretty, even the beak, but with distinctive pink eyes,” Brand told CBC News. They soon identified it as a crow, and neighbors told them they’d spotted another bird with the same distinctive lack of color.

The albino crows’ remarkable appearance is due to a rare genetic mutation. The Brands were worried that the birds might be a target for predators, but they seem to have the whole flock at their beck and call: When Mrs. Brand approached one of the birds to take a picture, a group of six crows flew in front of the young albino to protect him. So while they may not be birds of a feather, it doesn’t keep them from flocking together.

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