Bangor resident Hillary Gocze was on her typical walk through Mount Hope Cemetery on Tuesday when she spotted a highly unusual bird in the trees — a big departure from the typical crows and Canada geese she sees while visiting Bangor’s historic garden cemetery.
Hanging out among the flock of crows was an almost entirely white crow, a rare leucistic variation on the bird’s uniform glossy black feathers. Only the crow’s head was black; the rest was snowy white.
“I have seen this crow twice in the last week, both times at Mount Hope,” Gocze said. “I love crows, so I keep going back to check. They hang out with the other crows, and it’s really easy to spot the white one in the middle of them.”
Leucism, also sometimes called piebald, is similar to albinism, but is different in that animals with leucism may still have some pigmented skin, fur, scales or feathers. Albinism, which is even more rare than leucism, is the total lack of pigmentation. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates that only about one in every 30,000 birds displays some sort of color abnormality.
That said, leucism and albinism in birds is not unheard of in Maine. A leucistic crow was spotted in Aroostook County in 2021, and an albino chickadee was spotted the same year in Knox County. Bangor Daily News birding columnist Bob Duchesne wrote about a leucistic Canada goose in Yarmouth in 2014, and a couple in Ogunquit found an albino hummingbird that year as well. Albino deer, squirrels and even porcupines have also been seen in various parts of the state.
Though Bangor has always played host to large flocks of crows during the fall and winter months, there have been flocks numbering in the thousands this year. Duchesne attributes that to a favorable summer breeding season in 2023, as well as a population rebound after West Nile virus depleted their numbers in more recent years.
In addition to crows and geese, Gocze has spotted herons at the cemetery, as well as well-fed raccoons. This is the first time she’s ever seen a leucistic animal, however. She is an artist and regularly paints animals including crows in her works, and plans to paint the leucistic crow in the coming weeks.
“It feels really special,” she said. “I think it’s a good sign.”