Mississippi couple gets visit from extremely rare white hummingbird. See photo

A Mississippi woman was experiencing an exceptional fall migration of hummingbirds with far more zooming around her feeders than in years past, but when a white hummingbird showed up it became an event few ever see.

"We always have a few, but this year we had more," said Jan Hudson of Columbus on the volume of hummingbirds. "We had a lot more than we usually do. We just had dozens of them."

And judging what she was hearing from others, she wasn't alone.

"I've heard a lot of people say that," Hudson said.

What she didn't hear a lot of people say is they had a white hummingbird at their feeders.

"August 30th was the first day," Hudson said. "My husband (Don) actually saw it first.

"We have our feeders hanging across the front of the porch from the eaves where we can see them from inside. It just appeared. We're not really big bird people, but when I saw it I said, 'Wow. How cool is that? I didn't even know they had white ones.'"

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A white hummingbird visited this Mississippi house for almost three weeks

Hudson said she took lots of photos the first day because she thought it would keep flying south, but he was still there the following day — and the day after and the day after.

"This bird stayed 20 days," Hudson said. "We saw it every day for 20 days. We named him Snowy. We just loved watching him."

Hudson said Snowy had a bit of an attitude and bullied the other birds at first. Then the other birds ganged up on him and his attitude became more acceptable.

"They did finally settle down and they would eat together," Hudson said. "He acted really just like all the others."

More: How to make your yard a hummingbird paradise and attract them spring, summer and fall

White hummingbirds are a rarity

Snowy is one of vey few white hummingbirds that have been reported in Mississippi in recent years. Jimmy Dixon of Bogue Chitto had one visiting his feeders in 2022. Randy Fullerton of Sardis was lucky enough to encounter one at his home in 2019.

Hummingbird Central , a website dedicated to all things hummingbirds, has received 30 reports of white hummingbirds in North America this year, so far. It describes the birds as rare.

According to the website, there are three types of color anomalies in hummingbirds that causes them to be more white than normal. Albino hummingbirds are all white with pink legs, beaks and eyes. Leucism is another condition that can cause a hummingbird to be white or almost white with normal color in eyes, legs and beaks. A third condition is called pied and birds with this have patches of white and patches of normally colored feathers.

Hudson said Snowy was determined to be albino by some members of the Audubon Society and he, along with the other hummingbirds, made this a fall migration to remember.

"We enjoyed them this year," Hudson said. "They're amazing. It's been a big deal."

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7292 or bbroom@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi couple gets visit from extremely rare white hummingbird. See photo