My backyard, Richardson, Texas

One morning in January, 2011, I noticed what appered to be a female cardinal at our feeder, but when I looked closer, I saw that it had the bright red crest of a male! At first, I only saw its right side, but then it hopped to the other side of the feeder so I could see its left side, and now it had all the markings of a male! I went to get my camera but was only able to get one shot. Fortunately, it stayed in the neighborhood and I was able to get many more shots of this beautiful, but confusing, bird. After making inquiries via the web, I learned that this is an extremely rare Bilateral Gynandromorph Cardinal. What that means is that a genetic mistake occurred during the first division of the fertilized ovum that caused one half of the bird to be male and the other half to be female. Although gynandromorphism is known to occur in other birds, it is particularly striking in cardinals due to their strong sexual dimorphism.

This is my favorite photo of this bird with its crest up, enjoying a snack at my feeder. Another one of my photos of this bird was used as a clue on Jeopardy! That photo can be seen here