Jamie Hill spotted a northern cardinal that was bright red on the right side, and brownish white on the left side. The Pennsylvania resident spotted the rare bilateral gynandromorph, a bird divided right down the middle, half male and half female,” behind a residence in Warren County, Pennsylvania:
He'd been alerted to it by a friend of the homeowner, who wanted to remain anonymous, and Hill didn't want to reveal the exact location.
He said the rare cardinal "behaved totally normal." But, in theory, he said that it could mate with either a female or male cardinal, depending on which of its hormones were active during mating season.
A similar bird recorded by an Erie couple was featured in a National Geographic article in January 2019. That bird, which was red on one side and brown on the other, was spotted and photographed by Jeffrey and Shirley Caldwell.
Image via USA Today