Not everything in life turns out as expected.
Hatching out as a white baby Blackbird does your chances of survival no good at all. Any self respecting predator will spot you a mile away.
But survive this "Whitebird" has, not just for a short while, but he is now into his second winter. Last summer he successfully paired up and raised young of his own - all of which turned out in a New Zealand coloured "all black" attire!
You might expect old Whitey to be picked on by the other Blackbirds - but by all accounts he rules the roost in these parts - that is the two gardens and a small bit of woodland at the other end of the Wiltshire village in which I live.
In fact I am amazed by how small a territory he uses - it cannot be much larger than a couple of acres.
He has quite rightly become a bit of a celeb in these parts and good luck to him. Along with a certain football manager - I think he believes that he is definitely "the special one"!
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