This past week a participant on a spring birding tour hosted by the Garden called the Garden’s Visitor Center to tell of seeing a white hummingbird in her backyard. One of our bird savvy volunteers, Edna Deener who took the call, immediately called me to relate the persons contact information. I called the lady in the Piedmont Subdivision not far from the Garden and was invited to visit her backyard to view the white hummingbird. Terry and I arrived Wednesday evening hoping to see an albino Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but the little fellow turned out to be a leucistic hummingbird that had experienced an extensive loss of pigmentation in its feathers giving it a white appearance . The hummer had a brownish color tone and black eyes. It stayed five days during which time it ruled the backyard feeders. The first three photos were taken in evening light, the last photo was taken in morning light showing the bird’s more true white coloring.
Author
Herb Lewis, a retired engineer, has developed a second career in designing and teaching effective techniques learned to attract many species of birds to his backyard habitat. His experiences have been shared through workshops and presentations to diverse groups including the Master Gardener training for North Alabama and the annual Birmingham Audubon Mountain Workshop. Herb and his wife Terry sponsored and helped develop the Lewis Birding Trail at the Huntsville Botanical Garden.
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