After photographing the albino raccoon for Sunday’s outdoors story, I’ve added one more animal to a growing list of albino and/or strangely colored things that I’ve seen in person.
Here’s my latest count:
1. Albino ruby throat hummingbird (Manchester, Ga.) - It was solid white, and I actually got to hold it while the biologists banded its leg.
2. Albino bluebird (Columbus, Ga) - A really strange sight, considering its parents were normal bluebirds.
3. Piebald whitetail deer (Eufaula, Ala.) - I actually shot at it from a tree stand and missed. It was a stunning sight.
4. Albino corn snake (Fort Benning, Ga.) - I watched several of them hatching from their eggs, and they came out striking at everything in sight.
5. Melanistic spotted gar (LaGrange, Ga.) - It was solid black and looked like some kind of dinosaur.
5. Blonde mallard (northern Missouri) - I saw this bird during the snow goose conservation order. It really stood out among the normal mallards.
6. Albino raccoon (Cordova, Tenn.) - Super cool, especially sitting right next to a regular raccoon.
in The Great Outdoors
Responses to “My list of strange sightings is growing”
April 28th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
As a former pet store owner, I have seen many albino animals. One of the most spectacular was a 15 foot, 200 pound albino burmese python with a gentle temperment that we boarded for several months for its owner. But by far, the most beautiful animal I have ever seen was in the wild. While fishing Tunica cutoff I saw a female racoon with several kits. The kits were normal, but the mother was probably leucistic. Her color was a light beige and every marking that is normally black on a normal racoon was light grey. I put my rod down and was delighted to watch this animal “fishing” along the bank for 15 minutes or more. Astonishing experience.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I may have seen that same albino raccoon in Cordova, TN. My mother in law feeds him from her back porch, much to the chagrin of her neighbors.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Art, I’m not a big fan of snakes, albino or otherwise. But I’m sure a 15-foot albino python was a sight to behold. That leucistic raccoon must have been gorgeous, too. It’s funny how we go fishing sometimes and end up ignoring the fish all together.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
MrDorsey, One of the albino raccoons caught during the past 10 days may have been the one your mother was feeding. Who knows? I know a lot of people frown on feeding wild animals, but a lot of folks do it anyway. I’ve been guilty of it once or twice myself.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Byran: Actually it is funny how I go fishing sometimes and the fish end up ignoring ME all together.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am
When I saw the title I thought you were talking about taking a casual stroll through the streets of Memphis.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
This makes me think of the deer I had run in front of my car one more morning on the way to work. It was at the corner of Yale and Schiebler Rd in Raliegh. Also, there’s a horde of wild fox in Raliegh as well that I’ve come across in the same neighborhood.
If you want albino though check out the large family of albino squirrels in Overton Park. They’re all really HUGE buggers.
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