White winged House Sparrow?

[k4t3]

Have had a male House Sparrow visiting my feeders since the snows in December 2010, and the tips of his wings and the whole of the underside of his wings are pure white. It is so vivid and obvious I am surprised that he has not fallen prey to the local sprawk...is this common and is he lucky to have survived this long?

[aeshna5]

This is a form of leucism, where there is a lack of pigment. It's more common in some species than others. Sometimes these birds do survive ok.