Bilaterally Gynandromorphic Cardinal

Now is that a mouthful or what?

While I'm on this apparent blogging binge, this fascinating news bit just came into my inbox:

Unusual cardinal visits Rock Island yard

It turns out gynandromorphy in birds is a well-known phenomenon, with manifestations varying between species depending on whether plumage differentiation is strictly genetic or hormonally controlled. Evidently cardinals are in the "strictly genetic" camp. If you google for "gynandromorph" and "bird" you will find more instances.