My good friend Tony gave me a call yesterday. He had been driving to work and been startled by a bird flying past him at the roadside. It showed a corking white rump but was larger than a Wheatear; mostly black but white on the under-tail, breast and wing coverts. Just for a moment he wondered what he had seen.
This sometimes happens. It can give you quite a start when it does’ especially with winds from the deep south in spring.
Tony had seen a Blackbird with white in the plumage. Such partial albinism is not rare but given it was within a mile of the front door here at Falcon Cottage I went to see it yesterday evening. As Tony pointed out quite often aberrant plumaged birds do not often survive for long. Any brighter plumage attracts unwanted predator attention and feathers lacking in the darker pigment Melanin wear more easily leading to less efficient flight. However, this individual was holding his own and defending his small territory from all comers.
Letter From Norfolk 