Researchers at a nature reserve in Pennsylvania discovered a truly odd bird – one with both male and female feather coloring.
Rose-breasted grosbeaks are sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females have different color plumage.
Males have black wing feathers, pink wing pits and breast spots that give it its name, while females have brown wings, yellow wing pits and no patches on their chest.
But a grosbeak observed at Powdermill Nature Reserve was split right down the middle – pink on the right side, yellow on the left.
The condition, called bilateral gynandromorphism, means the bird is both male and female, with one ovary and one testis.
This occurs when two sperm fertilize an egg that has two nuclei instead of one, which results in the egg to develop a chromosome from each sex
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Conservationists at Powdermill Nature Reserve described finding a rose-breasted grosbeak with bilateral gynandromorphism like ‘seeing a unicorn.’ The bird was born with male and female plumage colors split down the center of its body
The phenomenon has been observed in less than ten birds since Powdermill’s Avian Research Center began bird banding 64 years ago.
‘The entire banding team was very excited to see such a rarity up close, and are riding the high of this once-in-a-lifetime experience,’ said Annie Lindsay, bird banding program manager. ‘One of them described it as ‘seeing a unicorn.’
A large, seed-eating member of the cardinal family, the rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is commonly found across eastern North America until this time of year when it migrates to Mexico and South America.
Since usually only the left ovary is functional in birds, and the left side of this bird is the female side, Lindsay says the bird could still theoretically lay eggs and reproduce.
Male red-breasted grosbeaks have larger black feathers, with pink wing pits and a pink splotch on their chest. Females have brown feather, with yellow wing pits and a thick white line above their eyes
The grosbeak’s bilateral asymmetry is visible on its back, as well. The feathers on the right (male) side of the bird are black and larger than the brown (female) ones on the bird’s left
Usually only the left ovary is functional in birds, so this bird could theoretically lay eggs and reproduce. It depends on if it sings like a male grospeak, which would trigger an unfriendly response from other males
WHAT IS A GYNANDROMORPH?
Gynandromorphs are not all that uncommon in the wild, though the coloration or markings of some species make the results more striking than others.
A gynandromorph lobster with yellow (male) coloring on one side and brown (female) on the other
A gynandromorph is an organism that has both male and female characteristics – or, a male-female chimera.
It’s often seen in insects, though gynandromorphic birds, snakes, lobsters and other animals have been observed, too.
It would depend on whether it sang like a male grosbeak, which would attract females and possibly trigger an unfriendly territorial response from other males.
‘Bilateral gynandromorphism, while very uncommon, is normal and provides an excellent example of a fascinating genetic process that few people ever encounter,’ Lindsay said.
The extremely rare phenomenon occurs when two sperm fertilize an egg that has two nuclei instead of one.
The egg can developed male sex chromosomes on one side and female on the other, leading to a bird with a testis and other male characteristics on one half of its body and an ovary and other female characteristics on the other.
Female red-breasted grosbeaks are brown, with a thick white line above their eyes, and wing pits that are yellow.
Males have larger black feathers, with pink wing pits and pink dots on their chest.
Her colleague found the asymmetrical flyer on September 24 toward the end of the day, she added ‘so we almost missed it.’
The bird did not yet developed its breeding plumage, she added, when ‘it’s going to be even more starkly male, female.’
The colors will become even more vibrant, and ‘the line between the male and female side will be even more obvious.’
While rare, bilateral gynandromorphism has been observed in lobsters, crabs, snakes, butterflies, bees, chickens and other birds.
Lindsay has only seen one other grosbeak exhibit the usual trait 15 year ago, but its coloration was much less striking.
She brought this grosbeak back to her lab, where she took its measurements, plucked a few feathers for DNA testing and shot some TikTok videos, before letting it go.
‘The black wing on this grosbeak also measured longer than the brown side,’ she told the Allegheny Front, ‘which is consistent with the male of the species.’
Located about an hour outside Pittsburgh, the Powdermill Nature Reserve is part of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.