Yesterday evening the wife, the dog and I were returning home after a walk at Wennerberg Park. Coming down Westside Road we pass the eastern edge of Rotary Park. Kate, my wife, spotted a flash of white; we made a quick, mostly legal, turn around in a side street, and then camera ready. Across the road stood Alba, the Rotary Park white deer. I first saw her three years ago when she was a fawn, trotting along behind her normally colored mother. Now she’s a full grown, healthy doe. Still lives in Rotary park, I see, and likes blackberries as much as the dog and I do. The photos show several bare berry bearing twigs near her face. Then, satisfied, she sauntered along the edge of the woods, to a nearly secluded opening and vanished into the trees.
Three years ago I got this email from a state biologist, Rick Hargrave of the Oregon DFW: “Thank you for sharing the photos of the deer. The fawn is referred to as a piebald fawn. It looks pretty healthy, which is good because typically piebald fawns are born with a number of deformities. I hope they continue on their way into the wild!”
Click on any image for full screen view:
PHOTOS FROM AUGUST, 2015
For more on piebald, leucistic, white deer, click here to see a science blog.
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos!
By: lindafink on August 2, 2018
at 7:27 pm
Interesting to see that this individual persists, 3 years later. Thanks for the timelapse!
By: Sylvia Wright on August 3, 2018
at 9:21 am
[…] Previously I had seen and photographed another whitish female deer. She was mostly white except head and rump, not nearly as splotchy as the one today. Click here for a previous blog on the first whitish deer I dubbed “Alba.” […]
By: SECOND WHITISH DEER IN MCMINNVILLE | Towheeblog on August 9, 2019
at 1:39 pm
[…] I have encountered a number of leucistic critters in my time. There was a doe in Shasta Valley years ago. Last year this doe here in McMinnville, click for image. […]
By: EYE-POPPING WOODPECKER: LEUCISTIC ACORN WOODPECKER | Towheeblog on December 6, 2019
at 3:09 pm
Saw a white deer in Rotary Park in McMinnville today, 12-17-20. Thought it couldn’t be but just read your post so just wanted to let you know. Regards,
Pamela
By: Pamela Bushnell on December 17, 2020
at 7:27 pm
thanks, we ay be into several generations by now as I saw the first one, then another markedly different but still mostly white
By: atowhee on December 18, 2020
at 7:58 am