White pileated woodpecker caught on camera near Edmonton

An incrediblyrare white pileated woodpecker was spotted this weekend in Bon Accord, Alta. about 40kilometres north of Edmonton.

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Rita and Joe Milligan, both avid birdwatchers, spotted the bird as it perched on a feeder outside their window on Saturday, and shot this video.

Joe Milligan, 72, has lived in the area his entire life and never before seen such a creature, and he's not alone.

According to naturalist Brian Keating, only two such birds have been spotted before in Alberta. He theorizes the birds' distinctive colouring is the result of leucism, a genetic condition thatcauses partial loss of pigmentation in an animal's skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticles.

Unlike traditional albinism, however, animals with leucismmaintain their original dark eye colour.

Typically,pileatedwoodpeckers are easily recognizable due to their large size (about 400 grams, orthe size of a crow), black-and-white bodies andbright red-crested heads.