MELBOURNE, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- An extremely rare white bird has been spotted in West Australia (WA) for what is believed to be the first time.
Residents of the northern Perth suburb of Mount Lawley were surprised to find the white willie wagtail making its home amongst the suburb's tall trees.
The bird is believed to have a rare condition known as leucism, which causes a partial loss of pigmentation compared to the more common albinism which causes only a loss of the pigment melanin.
Brice Wells, a member of Birdlife WA, said sightings of leucistic birds were rare because they rarely survive.
"It's the first one I've heard of," Wells told the ABC on Thursday.
"Often they don't survive, sometimes because they're not accepted by their peers."
"They become a little more noticeable, so they're often preyed on quite early and often because they're strange looking they find it hard to get a mate."
"So the opportunities for them are very limited."
Annie Barisic, a Mount Lawley resident, said in her 20 years of watching birds in the area she had never seen anything like the wagtail.
"He just didn't look like any other willie wagtail I'd ever seen. I've seen them here for 20 years," Barisic told the ABC on Thursday.
"The experts said he's even rarer than an albino, so this may be the first time Perth's actually able to get photos and get it confirmed what he is."
"In fact, it might even be the first for WA."
WA's wagtail population took a significant hit in the 1970s when efforts to eliminate and invasive Argentinian ant species also affected their food sources but have since recovered.
