Rare white crow that was attacked by other crows now lives in bird rehabilitation center

Sevcenko could hardly believe it when a rare crow named Hope appeared last month.

“I have never seen a white crow before,” said Sevcenko, who runs the Diva Crows rehabilitation center, whose goal is to release the birds back into the wild.

The Wildlife Rescue League of Falls Church, Virginia, contacted Sevcenko and asked if she could take in a rare white crow chick that had been brought to her last month by a Good Samaritan.

The man said he rescued the bird in Manassas, Virginia, after seeing a group of adult crows swoop down and attack the rare young bird, Sevcenko said. The young crow’s wings were not yet strong enough to fly away.

“I told them, ‘Of course I’ll take the bird,'” said 62-year-old Sevcenko.

She said she decided to name the young crow Hope because she had read legends that said white crows were a good omen and a sign of positive change.

The bird was only a few months old and slightly underweight, but did not appear to have any injuries, Sevcenko said, noting that she did not yet know whether the crow was male or female.

“We had her tested, but the lab lost the sample and I don’t want to stick another needle through her veins now,” she said. “But everyone refers to her as she, so we’re sticking with that.”

A veterinarian determined that Hope was not a pure albino crow — an occurrence that occurs in one in 30,000 to 100,000 crows. Because her flight feathers are caramel colored, not white, the veterinarian diagnosed her with amelanism, Sevcenko said, meaning Hope does not have the melanin to produce black feathers.

“She’s quite an anomaly – the vet has never seen one like her,” she said.

Sevcenko has spent her free time helping birds in need since 2012. She estimates that with the help of volunteers, Diva Crows has rehabilitated more than 2,000 birds, including blue jays, robins, woodpeckers, waxwings and cardinals.

In 2023, Sevcenko took in a two-foot-tall raven that had been shot with a pellet gun in Chantilly, Virginia. Although the bird could no longer fly and could not be released after its recovery, she found it a home at the Cayuga Nature Center in Ithaca, New York.

She said her plan was to give Hope a future as a training bird as well.

“We wanted to do everything we could to release her back into the wild, but there are just too many dangers for a bird that looks like her,” said Sevcenko. “Given her appearance and behavior, the chances of her being accepted are pretty slim.”

Sevcenko said she did not know why Hope was attacked by other crows, but added that the bird could have been abandoned by its parents, leaving it defenseless. There is also a possibility that it fell out of the nest or wandered into other crows’ territory, she said.

“Crows are very territorial when they have their own young, and they don’t like to share their resources,” she said.

Sevcenko said she was also concerned that Hope had imprinted on people.

“The person who picked up the crow kept it for a few days before contacting the Wildlife Rescue League,” she said. “When she got here, she was very comfortable in the company of people, which is not normal.”

Even without these factors, Sevcenko said, the bird would face numerous dangers in the wild.

“When white crows are ostracized, they are forced to live alone, which is quite torture for a crow,” she said, pointing out that crows are social, family-oriented birds that live in groups.

“They are incredibly smart birds and in groups they are not a target for predators, unlike a white crow,” said Sevcenko.

White crows could develop vision problems, making hunting difficult, and they could starve, she said.

“One of the reasons for their rarity is that they rarely make it to reproduction,” Sevcenko added.

She and her volunteers briefly placed Hope in a cage with some rescued black crow chicks and there were no problems, she said.

Then they placed Hope with an adult crow. Things didn’t go well.

“She eventually attacked him,” Sevcenko said. “She’s a very interesting specimen. She loves to explore and she’ll sit on your arm. She likes to hang out in the rehab and monitor what’s going on there.”

“Everyone who spends time with Hope is amazed by her personality,” said Tijona Owens, an intern at Diva Crows.

“She loves birdbaths and when we move her cage she sits on top and talks to you like she’s a little person,” she said. “She’s very loud and is always hungry.”

Her snacks include high-protein dog food, blueberries, mice and chopped chicken hearts.

Sevcenko said two veterinarians told her Hope could not be released into the wild, so she plans to look for a wildlife education facility that can take her in.

“I really enjoy having her around, but I think she’ll be a good teacher,” she said. “She’s definitely one of a kind.”