Completely white due to a lack of pigmentation, just one such bird is a rarity — let alone two in the same small town.
But while the starling continues to thrive in the North Street area despite being a more obvious target for predators, the sparrow spotted elsewhere in the town has sadly died.
A Northfield Park Gardens resident who did not wish to be identified said the young sparrow came from a nest in her garden.
She said: “I came home and there was a bundle of white feathers.
“But we do get a lot of big black crows around this area and hawks, and they fly right through the garden.
“But it was in the garden all the time, dotting about.”
The starling was meanwhile spotted in the North Street area at the weekend, still defying the threat posed by predators.
The Northfield Park Gardens resident said: “I looked it up on the Internet and they live a very short time because they stand out so much because they’re white.
“There were two seen in 2015 in Australia, but it’s very rare to get them in this country.”
Sad about the bird’s death, she added: “I was very annoyed when I came home and it was dead, but there’s not very much you can do because they’re wild birds.
“You just have to hope for the best.”
