Mystery Bird

This unusual colored bird first appeared on 6-28-12. It stopped by the deck with other birds to eat some Animal Cracker crumbs. It looked like a juvenile grackle, but has the white tail stripe....

 Here it's following (part of) an adult grackle.....

 It was seen again on July 1. It begged for some suet, but wasn't served by that adult!

 Back on the deck checking for crumbs. So far we don't have an exact ID. It could be a grackle with slight mutation or a Eurasian species. Possibly it's parents might be relatives of some of the foreign black and white crows that do the Windex commercials, and they sent juvie on a trip for summer break!

Pictures were sent to some ornithologists and the favored conclusion is that this is a juvenile grackle with Leucism. This is a condition occurring in birds and animals where some of the pigment cells lack their color.