At the risk of sounding like a broken record (for those too young for this reference, it refers to vinyl records that would skip and repeat the same thing over and over again and were considered broken) I love unique or unusual critters. I try to highlight many of the more interesting and exceptional animals in this column, and this week is no different. I was contacted last spring by a wonderful reader of this column. She had a usual bird coming to her feeder. A leucistic White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis).
I made the trek over to scope out the situation and met the wonderful homeowner who welcomed me to her yard. The bird in question was no where to be found so we exchanged phone numbers to keep in contact and I headed home keeping my fingers crossed this very rare bird would return.
Fast forward to early fall and I received a text message from the homeowner reporting that the leucistic nuthatch was back and visiting the feeders on a regular basis. I shuffled my schedule and headed out as soon as I could. Arriving at the home, I knew the homeowner wouldn’t be around for a couple hours. The bird was mostly seen in the backyard so I had a choice of which way I should go around the house so I wouldn’t scare away the bird if it was there.
To read more about the condition of leucism, pick up a copy of the Messenger today to read the rest of Stan’s column.