With the recent high temperatures and heavy rainstorms, the center advised them to bring the unknown type of bird in for an evaluation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said if you can get the bird, we will be more than happy to take it in,\u201d Tracie A. Young, founder, director and rehabilitator at the center, said in a July 8 telephone interview.<\/p>\n
They brought the bird in a closed box to the center and started doing paperwork.<\/p>\n
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI could hear the chirping in the box and I could tell it was a cardinal,\u201d Young said. \u201cI opened the box, and I was like, \u2018Is this what I think it is? It\u2019s an albino cardinal.\u2019 And it just took us by shock because we opened the box to triage the animal and here is this albino cardinal chirping at us.”<\/p>\n Go Outdoors PA: If you find a young or injured animal, here’s how and when to respond<\/a> \u201cI was just in awe, because it was so beautiful. I\u2019ve never seen one before.”<\/p>\n Fortunately, the baby bird didn\u2019t have any physical injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just hopping around, but it was a fledgling, which means they have jumped out of the nest. They can\u2019t fly effectively for seven to 10 days, but the parents still continue to take care of their fledglings on the ground,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n With this male bird being unique to other bright red cardinals, she said, \u201cI\u2019m really surprised that this bird made it as long as it did because it has no natural camouflage colors and pink eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Cornell University\u2019s Orinithology Lab<\/a>, albinism is a rare genetic mutation that prevents the production of melanin. They have pink eyes because the only color comes from the blood vessels behind their eyes.<\/p>\n According to Avianreport.com\u2019s<\/a> survey data, \u201cLeucism and albinism occur at a rough estimate of 1 in 30,000 birds. Leucism is more common than albinism.\u201d Their survey data suggests that of 100 birds that show abnormal plumages, 82 are leucistic, and only three are albinistic.<\/p>\n Leucism is an abnormality in the pigment in the feathers which usually leads to pale or light-colored plumage.<\/p>\n More: Pennsylvania game warden finds rare colored raptor covered in oil<\/a> Young said albino birds also have poor eyesight. \u201cIts feathers are not strong, like they would be on a normal bird or fledgling. They\u2019re very delicate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n With these traits, the center said the bird cannot be safely released back into the wild.<\/p>\n \u201cHe cannot see that well and he has no camouflage colors. Sometimes they have a long lifespan and sometimes they don\u2019t. But he surely is so bright white that a predator is going to find him immediately,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The bird came into the center when the temperature flirted around triple digits.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought how ironic, as hot as it is, here we have this albino white bird that came to us, so we are calling him ‘Frosty,’\u201d Young said. \u201cThis little Frosty came to us on these hot days. He\u2019s eating well, he\u2019s doing well.”<\/p>\n The center posted a few photos of Frosty on its Facebook page and bird watchers have been sharing their excitement for this unique creature.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are saying it\u2019s just a rarity and what a privilege to see this bird,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are some birders that this is on their checklist of birds to see and some of them will never see one.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, they are letting Frosty grow, and the staff will be watching his temperament.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will probably be part of our ambassador team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The center provides educational outreach programs and she\u2019s hopeful the bird will be OK to participate as people would enjoy seeing a white cardinal.<\/p>\n Some animals are OK with being around the public and others are not.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will have to see how the bird\u2019s temperament is,\u201d Young said. \u201cWe need to make sure the animal is able to visit public places and we don\u2019t want to make this stressful for the bird.\u201d<\/p>\n The rehabilitation center itself is closed to the public, so these outreach programs would provide the only opportunities for the public to see Frosty.<\/p>\n Some of the birds that live at the center help other feathered friends and Frosty may become a foster parent. For example, Young said they have a great horned owl named Pharoah who was involved in outreach programs but then he didn\u2019t like them. They soon found the owl another activity.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a foster dad. He raises all of our baby great horned owls. That\u2019s his job and he enjoys it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n As for Frosty, his future role at the center is to be determined as his personality develops.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still teaching it to eat on its own, so it\u2019s still getting fed by hand. So we don\u2019t know yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n However, she\u2019s optimistic it will have a bright role at the center despite its lack of colors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty unique. I\u2019ve never seen one in my entire life,” Young said. “It\u2019s a beautiful bird.”<\/p>\n Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@usatodayco.com<\/a> and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors\u00a0PA newsletter email on this website’s homepage under your login name.Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 9, 2026, 12:24 p.m. ET The bird, named Frosty, cannot be released due to its lack of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[596,28,30,29,82717,1624,1625,103016,1770,12664,99845,41909,15077,651,1629,952,949,1174,1140,1630,535],"class_list":["post-239490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-accessmetered","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-sourceyork-daily-record","tag-sstssportsoutdoors","tag-sstsnoutdoors","tag-tagalbinism","tag-taganimal-welfare","tag-tagbiological-sciences","tag-tagbird-watching-spots","tag-tagbirds","tag-tagfacebook","tag-taglocal-news","tag-tagoutdoor-sports","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagpa-content-sharing","tag-tagpennsylvania","tag-tagstory-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-tagwildlife","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.ydr.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/07\/09\/NTDA\/90862256007-frosty-01.jpg?width=660&height=505&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
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