White Sparrow

I saw a white sparrow in my backyard this morning. Hundreds of birds (mostly sparrows) visit my feeders each day. This is the first time I've seen a white one. Are they very common? Unfortunately, I was getting ready to leave for work and couldn't get a photo.

Hi figaro, Here is an answer from enature.com

There are four grades of albinos among birds. The most common is the partial albino, which has some white feathers in spots. The imperfect and incomplete are nearly albino, but lack some aspect of the pure albino. They are less common. The pure albino is rare, though not extremely rare. They are completely white with pink eyes, legs and bill.

Hi Pelletory, thanks. This bird looked just like the other sparrows in form -- but completely white. I didn't get a good enough look at the eyes to see if they might be red -- they probably were. The other sparrows didn't seem to be at all fazed. Now I'll probably be watching for him/her every morning -- camera in hand!