While walking along the Olentangy river trail this evening my wife and
I stumbled upon this same white cardinal.  A VERY stunning bird!  We
saw it in the north-east corner of the rectangular patch of woods
along the river at the south-west corner of the park, around 5:15pm.
It was easily seen (even when it flew off deeper into the woods) from
the trail.

Map of the location: http://g.co/maps/s4y35

I've seen a handful of abnormally white birds in my life, and this one
definitely takes the cake!  Hopefully it sticks around to pose for
photos tomorrow morning.  Adding to the description in Bill's email,
the bird appeared to have dark eyes and there were a few flecks of
dark (brownish?) feathering on it's left side.  Otherwise, it looked
just like the white N. Cardinal in this photo (found it on the web;
not sure where it's from):

http://icons-ak.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/b/BettyFrance/198.jpg

A few words on albinism and leucism in birds.  First, check out this
blog post by David Sibley on pigmentation in birds. It is
appropriately illustrated with a Northern Cardinal(!)

http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/08/abnormal-coloration-in-birds-melanin-reduction/

Second, there was a Steller's Jay in Colorado in 2004 that molted from
normal plumage to all white one fall. All the while visiting a feeder.
It was well documented by Fred & Georgie Kupilik (and later written up
in the Journal of the Colorado Field Ornithologists). You can view
photos of the bird (before and after the unusual molt) on Bill
Schmoker's website:

http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Whitey.html

It's unclear whether this Cardinal was born white or acquired it's
snowy plumage this fall.  In any case, it's quite a nice looking bird
and one well worth looking for if it sticks around.

Good birding,
Paul Hurtado

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