Albinism has been recorded infrequently for the two North American members of the family Recurvirostridae. Gross (Bird-Banding 36:67-71, 1965) listed only one record of albinism for the Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) and one record for the American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana). To my knowledge no further reports of albinistic Black-necked Stilts have been published.
On 17 September 1977 I saw an albinistic Black-necked Stilt foraging in a small pond at Buena Vista Lagoon, San Diego County, California. The bird was with six to eight normally pigmented stilts. A description of the bird follows: plumage all white; legs light pink, lighter than normal; bill light yellow. Eye color was not seen.
During 5 minutes of observation the albinistic bird appeared to behave similarly to the other stilts, and I did not see any unusual behavior on the part of the normally pigmented stilts toward the albinistic bird. When the group of stilts flew away, the albinistic bird accompanied them. Presumably the same albinistic stilt was seen by two other observers at the same location on 7 September 1977.
Janice K. Victoria of the San Diego Natural History Museum critically reviewed this note; her comments are appreciated.