Leslie Lenahan has an unusual visitor to her East Patchogue backyard this summer: a ghostly white deer among the greenery. “At first I thought it was a goat,” she laughed. “It’s so shy—you barely get a glimpse, and then it’s gone.” It's not sporting antlers yet, so she doesn’t know if it’s a doe or a stag.
The visitor isn’t a true albino; it's a piebald deer, a rare genetic variation that causes patches of white on the coat. Some piebald deer are mostly white with small brown spots, while others may have skeletal differences like crooked or shortened legs.
Piebald deer are extremely uncommon, appearing in less than 2% of the whitetail population. Isolated herds, such as the famed Seneca Army Depot herd in New York, have produced larger numbers due to the spread of the recessive gene. There were even some in the fenced-in acreage at Brookhaven National Lab.
Most piebald deer live healthy lives, though some with physical deformities may face challenges. Historically, Indigenous cultures revered piebald deer as spiritual messengers and often protected them.
For Leslie, the deer is a rare glimpse of nature’s diversity in her own backyard. “It’s an unusual visitor,” she said. “We’re grateful to have it.”