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Two white ravens have hatched near Coombs on Vancouver Island, possibly siblings to a white raven spotted last year, or its offspring.

Photographer Mike Yip caught sight of the pair hanging around together about two weeks ago.

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“They are together, but they are moving around a lot,” he said. “We are getting one or two white ravens each year on and off for about 20 years.”

A white raven spotted in the same area last year appears not to have survived the winter, like its predecessors.

“If they did survive, there would be a bunch of them around, but there isn’t,” he said. “Every year, we start over again.”

Photo by Mike Yip / for PNG

Yip first spotted a white raven in 2007 in the area and saw one or two each year until 2013, when they disappeared for four years.

The newly photographed juveniles have blue eyes, suggesting they have a genetic defect that prevents the formation of some melanin pigments, said Ben Freeman, a researcher at UBC’s Biodiversity Research Centre.