Unusual Bird: White winged house sparrow
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Have frequently seen this striking male amongst the flock of house sparrows that visit my feeders.
Categories: Leucistic birds
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29 comments on “Unusual Bird: White winged house sparrow”
I have been seeing this small bird similar to a sparrow at my bird feeder. It is the same colour as a sparrow only softer not as marked , and is slightly larger. The tips of its wings have a white band across them , and it appears to have a slight tuft on its head. I am curious as to what kind of bird it may be. It can be dominating at the feeder.
I have a white winged house sparrow, a frequent visitor over the last few weeks I am in Moray Scotland. Has there been any more sightings in Scotland
I’ve seen them here in Balmedie near Aberdeen
I had one visit my garden this morning.
I’m in Ratho Station, Edinburgh.
Just seen one in my garden in Moffat, it’s the first I’ve seen one of these
Yep, I’ve been seeing the same Sparrows that you describe. When I first spotted one it reminded me of the paint job on an old WW2 fighter (when the bird is in flight, wings spread out. I was wondering why this Sparrow looked different from the males, with their black bibs and raccoon eyes, and from the females with their subdued, but still pretty coloring.
Is this a separate species of sparrow or just a color variation of a regular house sparrow?
Hi Gary,
This is a House Sparrow with leucism (partial albanism) in its wing feathers. For more information on leucism, please feel free to check out this link: https://feederwatch.org/color_variant/albinism-and-leucism/
Best, Holly Faulkner, Project Assistant
The one we have coming to our feeder not only has bands around its wing feathers, but the whole wings, about two inches, are totally white. Wow, it is surprising! Can’t fing it in any bird book.
Hi, this is a condition known as leucism. It is the partial absence of pigmentation in an animal, resulting in white or lighter-colored areas of the body.
We had a all white bird about the size of a house sparrow at our feeders today. The edges of the wings were black or a dark color. We did not have a camera to take a photo of it.
I hope we get to see it again. I now have a camera which i may be able to take a picture.
the bird mixed in with the other house sparrows around the feeders. It looked just like one we looked at on our computer.
A house sparrow with leucistic wings has been hanging around my street garden in Bronx, NYC. Always alone and seems a little clumsy and “off,” often tumbling as it climbs up the rocks, so I took pity and began to feed it peanut crumbs. Now it comes when I whistle. Today it was also eating bluebell leaves. Is that unusual for sparrows?
We have a young dunnock in our garden this year with white wings.
Hi,i have a sparrow with white tips to its wings coming to my feeding station, so much so that it looks like a bow on its back. I live in Cardiff,South Wales UK
Helen, I live in Somerset and we have a little sparrow with an almost totally white back coming into the garden every day to feed with his flock. He’s beautiful, and I’d like to know just how unusual he is.
Is white colouring also a feature of juveniles*? 3 siblings being fed by female house sparrow at feeder (in NW Highlands) all have very conspicuous white patches on wings and end of tail and very pale grey chest/ breast/ belly. (* fluffy appearance, huddle together and frequent flickering of wings to attract parent bird.)
We have two, leucistic, juveniles who have been coming to our pond and feeders, with their (normally colored) parents for the past week or so.
I just saw a sparrow with one white feather in its left wing at our bird feeder were over 20 sparrows come. We live in Millthorpe N.S.W. Australia. Reg.
We have a similar sparrow flying in. Flock o around 20 other birds (cheshire). We quite look forward to it visiting the feeders .
One showed up here the other day at my feeder here in eastern Iowa. Looks to be female.
Northern Illinois. Just saw a white winged and tailed house sparrow again at my feeding station. it is part of a dozen or so house sparrows which are regularly at my feeder. It appears to be a female or fledgling. No behavior abnormalities. This flock of sparrows has been emptying my feeder daily. Now, this variant today. When it flies it flashes bright white half-way up from wing tips and the tail about the same.
We have a new visitor, it looks like a house sparrow but with white tips on wings. First time ever seeing one. What causes that, do you know?. It’s such a cute little fellow. We named it Angel
Hey Storm, this is a condition known as leucism (partial albinism). It means that an animal is lacking some pigmentation in its body, resulting in white or lighter-colored areas of the body. Cute name!
Ava
I noticed some in Collingwood in tasman area new Zealand. But here I am south lake Tekapo, and am observing them here which got me to google. I thought it might be a type of finch! But they are qith other sparrows.
first time at my feeder white wing tip and blonde body sparrow nice bird
I’ve seen this bird in my yard a few times in the past week. Very eye catching with the white on the wings. Also looks like white tipped tail feathers. Noticed it did seem kind of clumsy, as someone else mentioned. I’m in Cook Co., IL about 12 miles west of Chicago.
Hello from AZ. I have been seeing a few house sparrows with white feathers They are not usually together. One has a white tail feather, another on the back. They do sometimes seem fluffier. I thought maybe juveniles?
Thanks for the information. This bird has been using the feeder regularly for about a month, had never seen one before.
Saw an example of this for the first time on a house sparrow (with even more pronounced white sections on the wings). Chicago, December 2025