Donna and I hiked 4,930 foot Whiteside Mountain yesterday. That sounds pretty impressive, but actually hiking Whiteside is not difficult at all, it's like a walk in the park and even children make the two-mile loop trail with little difficulty. We've made this hike dozens of times in all kinds of weather, but yesterday we had a brand new experience. As we started down the mountain, a beautiful snow-white squirrel darted across the trail directly in front of us. Donna and I turned to one another and asked, "Did you see that?" What we saw was an albino squirrel. Apparently sighting an albino squirrel is pretty rare. Albinism only occurs in 10 of every 1,000,000 squirrels. On top of that, with their protective coloring gone, these little creatures don't last very long. As you might imagine, a stark white squirrel makes a pretty obvious target for hawks, bobcats, and other natural predators of squirrels. While our white friend would have an advantage on a snowy day, most days he stands out like a sore thumb; accordingly, albino creatures like our squirrel don't last very long in the wild. Seeing this little guy certainly livened up our day and I'm sure there is a sermon illustration lurking somewhere in this rare sighting.
By the way, while researching our sighting I discovered there is an organization called The Albino Squirrel Preservation Society, whose sole focus is these rare creatures. This appears to be a somewhat "tongue-in-cheek" organization, but they do have some pretty cool photos of albino squirrels.
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