Hi Noah and cc to to listserv
Congratulations on getting the leucistic hawk photos.
Please; when you post the photos on ebird, scroll down along the details
on the margin and
Check the "aberrant individual " box. This fairly recent choice helps
researchers find the unusual birds quickly.
"Aberrant" can also be used for other interesting color variations,
misshapen bills, disease deformations, eye color, etc.
I recall seeing a white-splotched American Robin this past spring and
getting photos of both sides. I hope it visits my yard this fall, although
I fear a predator saw it and said "Dibs"!
LynnErla Beegle Raleigh NC
On Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 23:58 Noah Rokoske <carolinabirds...> wrote:
> Hi Carolinabirders,
> I guess fall migration is in the air for real! Had my first broad-wing the
> other day, and now! something even more special! As I was loading my car
> for a weekend away, I noticed a murder of crows carrying on about something
> near my apartment in downtown Boone, NC. I looked up, and in a tree above
> the county courthouse, a splotch of white! What kind of egret would decide
> to perch atop a tree in the middle of a small city hundreds of miles from
> any appreciable lowland area? Glad I had decided to bring the bag with my
> camera and binoculars in this go-round, I peered at the white body through
> my bins and noted that it was not an egret, but indeed a raptor, presumably
> albino or leucistic. I took out my camera and managed to snap a photo right
> as the hawk launched from the tree, and then took several more photos as it
> circled up and up and eventually disappeared over Howard’s Knob. If anyone
> wants to see photos, I’m happy to send them along. I will also post this
> sighting to eBird, along with media, so that it is counted in citizen
> science, but I thought it was noteworthy enough to warrant a post to the
> good ol’ listserv!
> And now, excited to go out tomorrow and see what shore- and waterbirds
> this evening’s thunderstorm may have blown in/ kept down… and remember, the
> crows *are* trying to tell you something!
> Good birding,
> ~ Noah Rokoske
> Boone and Durham
