Hello All,

Thought you might enjoy this rarity. It was seen (and photographed)
several times on May 9th by a number of birders at Presqu'ile
Provincial Park (on the shore of Lake Ontario.) If this link doesn't
work directly, try http://www.ofo.ca/photos/ and go to May 2007.
Cool bird, eh!

9 May
2007
Rose-breasted
Grosbeak that is all male on the right side and all female on the left.
This condition, known as a gynandromorph, is quite rare in birds but
has been described a few times
in Evening Grosbeaks. The bird is a "second-year"
based on the brownish primaries,
and is fairly splotchy all over. The split-sex effect
is most obvious from front-on, and looks like a male and female were
cut in half and pasted together
to make a composite "frankenbeak."


Rose-breasted Grosbeak (gynandromorph) (Pheucticus ludovicianus) May
9. Presqu'ile Provinical Park. A gynandromorph is a rare condition
where the bird shows both male and female characters. Most
gynandromorphs have a mixed male and female plumage. This male Rose-
breasted Grosbeak is the rarer bilateral type (more or less) with one
half male and the other half female. Photo by Bill Gilmour,
<bill.gilmour AT sympatico DOT ca>

***********************************************************************
Diane Whitman
mszorro at gmail.com

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