Family Captures Albino Hummingbird in Stunning Photographs

Marlin Shank, 15, Nature Friend

Albinos are hard to come by: Only one in 17,000  humans are believed to have albinism, and there are seven billion of us. Which is why getting pictures of an albino ruby-throated hummingbird – a tough bird to photograph as it is – can be difficult.

Shaphan Shank, 14, Nature Friend

But Kevin Shank and his four eldest sons managed to do just that last August, capturing an array of beautiful pictures of the unique creature.

Darren Shank, 12, Nature Friend

Shank, who runs Nature Friend magazine with his wife Bethany, took his four eldest sons to Stauton, VA, after hearing about a white hummingbird feeding in a yard there though a birding list-serve. The owners of the yard graciously let them wait out the bird's return, and when the creature appeared, everyone was estatic. 

"When we went, we knew there was a chance we wouldn't see the bird at all," Shank says. "So to actually see it was just fantastic."

On their first visit to the yard on Aug. 16, Shank and his sons took turns taking pictures with a Canon 7D camera and a Canon 1D Mark IV camera.

Shank explains the rest of the family eventually went looking for the bird in later visits. 

"It was fun to me that our family could do this together," says Shank.

To see more of these beautiful pictures, go here.

Allen Shank, 9, Nature Friend