John Osborn and his wife live on Indian Arrow Road in Barrie’s east end. It's a quiet neighbourhood near a park and many trees, making a wildlife sighting nothing to be surprised by.
But one little visitor has caught Osborn’s attention.
On and off for about a month, a white chipmunk has been visiting the Osborn home and joining the other more common chipmunks in search of food.
Osborn told BarrieToday he has bird feeders on his property and sees many eastern chipmunks as they grab the remnants off the ground, but this new one was definitely rare.
“A while ago, I saw a chipmunk at the bottom of the garden with some white markings on it. I hadn’t seen it a bit and I wonder if it is possibly the same one,” said Osborn. “I don’t know if they're born like that or they grow into it.”
A search online has not shown much information, but there have been many sightings of a white squirrel in the eastern parts of the United States. Many experts have said that the white squirrel is merely a variation of the eastern grey squirrel.
While no one is quite sure how or why the rodents get their white look, some explanations include albinism, caused by a mutation on a gene that codes for pigmentation. The other is a white morph, caused by a different gene.
But either way, Osborn says he's learning about the personality of his new visitor as time goes on.
“It used to be really shy, but it is getting bolder now and comes right up to the deck,” he said. “It gets along with the other chipmunks just fine. Like any other, they chase each other around quite a bit.”
Osborn moved to Barrie in 1981 and enjoys the part of the city he and his wife live in. They installed bird feeders as a way to enjoy the many birds central Ontario has to offer.
“We’ve always rather not have them running around as we know they’re just out there to get to the birdseed, but this was obviously a nice surprise,” Osborn said. “I hope to be able to find out more about this little one and see where he may have come from.”
