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Leucism

Paul Hurtado/Flickr Creative Commons

Over the weekend, I saw something peculiar outside my living room window. It was rather ghostly, in fact.

At first glance my eyes told me a small seagull was scouring the grass beneath our birdfeeders, but I couldn’t imagine what a gull would find worth eating there. I moved in for a better look.

The white bird was pigeon-sized, but I’ve never seen a pigeon at our feeders either. I kept examining the bird for recognizable features. Then I noticed that it had a distinct triangular crest of feathers standing up on his head. Suddenly everything made sense.

W. Brooks Paternotte took the helm of Irvine Nature Center as executive director in July 2013 and immediately began building on the strong 35-year foundation. Brooks is a Baltimore native who was a teacher, coach, advisor, dean and Head of the Middle School during his 13 years at Boys’ Latin School in Baltimore. He is also an instructor and ambassador of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and is a Leave No Trace Master, as well as an avid outdoorsman and a features writer for FlyLife Magazine.
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