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The rarest kind of one of the world's most common birds found in Melbourne


A pure white sparrow, the rarest incarnation of one of the world's most common birds, has been spotted in suburban Melbourne.

A regular visitor to select gardens in Sanctuary Lakes in Melbourne's west, locals have nicknamed the bird the "little white angel".

Keen bird watcher Bob Winters, who worked as an environmental educator for the Gould League for 20 years, says the sparrow is a "one in a million neighbour" with only a handful of white sparrow sightings reported worldwide.



The rare white sparrow spotted in Melbourne.
The rare white sparrow spotted in Melbourne. Photo: Bob Winters
The sparrow, which Mr Winters estimates is no more than eight months old, has done well to survive thus far given a parent or siblings could have tossed it out of the nest.

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The bird is also vulnerable to predators, given its poor camouflage and may not have much luck breeding because other sparrows are unlikely to recognise or accept it as a potential mate.

"In some ways, there's not much going for it," Mr Winters said.

However, the bird has been embraced by locals who have taken to leaving birdseed out and maintaining water bowls. The generosity has not been lost on the other sparrows in its flock who are benefiting from the extra attention.

Difficult to photograph because of its shy nature, it has been a challenge for Mr Winters to confirm that the sparrow has albinism, which can sometimes be confused for another equally rare genetic condition known as leucism.

"This particular bird is pure white and there are no actual markings of any kind," he said.

"But from my photos it looks like it has a darker eye, not a pink eye associated with albinism."

Albinism is a recessive characteristic which is expressed when a bird inherits the rare albino gene from both parents.

Leucism is the loss of pigmentation in the feathers but not from the eyes and legs.

Victoria University ornithologist Patrick-Jean Guay said sparrows with albinism had poor eyesight, pink eyes, legs and beak and are pure white. Meanwhile sparrows with leucism have dark eyes, white plumage and weak feathers, which fall apart faster and can make flight problematic. Partial leucism can also occur in birds in *****es, even a single feather.

Dr Guay said it was hard to gauge how rare an occurrence albinism and leucism is in sparrows.

"It's not observed that much in the wild because they probably get taken at a young age," he said.

The bird's gender has also been hard to confirm due to its shy nature and all-white feathers which don't display the tell-tale black markings male sparrows have on their head and neck.

The most common sparrow in Australia, the house sparrow, live in flocks of 30 to 50 and pair for life, which usually spans five to six years.


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