Albino hummingbird in the USA

From the Kansas City Star in the USA:

A rare sight: Albino hummingbird visits area

The tiny white delight spent over two weeks at the home of a Lake Waukomis couple.

By MATT CAMPBELL

Nancy Morrison caught a glimpse of the stranger as she was backing out of the driveway and told her husband to watch out for some little white bird that was invading the hummingbird feeders at their Lake Waukomis home.

But the visitor turned out to be an extremely rare albino hummingbird — and she was most welcome for the more than two weeks that she hung around. She was last seen Saturday, but she may still be in the Kansas City area.

“I was thrilled,” Morrison said. “We really had a lot of fun with her. She was a great visit.”

The Backyard Bird Center on Barry Road confirmed for Morrison and her husband, Michael, that it was an albino version of the ruby-throated hummingbird. An expert examining photos told them it was female.

Albino hummingbirds have a poor survival rate because they stand out to predators, naturalist Bill Hilton Jr. told the Missouri Department of Conservation. He said this bird would be lucky to survive the migration south for the winter.

But she was plucky while she was here, guarding her rights to the Morrisons’ many hummingbird feeders and flowers.

“She was a fierce fighter for her territory,” Nancy Morrison said.

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