A close-up of the “one in a million” albino magpie, Whitie. Photo: Sarah Robinson.
It’s confirmed – the “one in a million” magpie making the rounds in Estella is albino.
Previously, we were left hanging not knowing whether the bird nicknamed ‘Whitie’ by locals is actually albino or just simply blonde, but the latest sighting of the feathered celebrity in Boorooma confirmed our suspicions.
After his friend mentioned seeing a white magpie in Boorooma Street, former environmental consultant Reuben Robinson decided to try his luck and went for a drive with his wife Sarah.
“Sure enough, we saw Whitie,” he said.
“My wife’s camera has a pretty good zoom on it. She was able to get a good photo.”
Sarah Robinson’s camera has pretty decent zoom. Photo: Sarah Robinson.
Thanks to Mrs Robinson’s camera, Charles Sturt University Associate Professor Melanie Massaro was able to confirm that Whitie is indeed albino.
“What an odd looking bird,” she said.
“My friend Bruce [who does bird genetics] thinks that this is actually an albino magpie, not a leucistic magpie (blond).”
Albinism is a rare hereditary genetic condition that causes reduced production of pigment (colouring). It can impact many different animal species.
While being albino doesn’t affect its swooping behaviour, the lack of black pigment may actually come at a cost.
Besides looking odd, Australian National University Associate Professor and Ecologist Damien Farine says being albino may affect its ability to fly and forage.
“Black pigment actually adds a lot of strength to feathers,” he said.
“Over time, they sort of fade. When you have black birds, the feathers fade [over a few years] and they start to get damaged.
“For this bird, its feathers are going to become damaged much sooner than other birds.”
Being albino also makes Whitie more sensitive to the sun, which can be an issue considering magpies spend a lot of time foraging for food in Australia’s sunny climate.
“A normal magpie can be out in the baking sun. This guy or girl might not be able to do that because it doesn’t have any protection,” he said.
“The melanin provides a huge amount of protection. That’s exactly the same reason why we become tanned.”
While albinism may affect some species’ ability to hide from predators – especially if they’re part of large groups – magpies don’t really have a lot of natural predators or live in large collective groups.
In some cases, they may even exile the albino animal from the pack because they stick out like a sore thumb. But because albino magpies are so rare, Dr Farine can’t be 100 per cent sure that albino magpies will also face the same fate – unless it’s possible to “experimentally create albino magpies”.
“When we study, we would do it experimentally. But we can’t experimentally create albino magpies,” he said.
“So it’d be interesting to know if over time, we can see them being part of a group.”
In fact, this may be the first albino magpie Mr Robinson has seen in Wagga. He had seen other leucitic (partial loss of pigmentation in animals) birds in Wagga, but Whitie may be the first.
The closest thing he saw was a blonde magpie around two decades ago.
“I remember that one had a bit more variation in the colouration,” he said.
“I don’t think it was an albino. But this one? When I saw Sarah’s photo, I thought, ‘That might be albino’.
“You’re a unique character, Whitie.”
