When Charlie Stephenson looked out of the window into the backyard of her Shelby County, Alabama home she spotted something she had never seen before.
However, there was still something familiar about the bright yellow bird.
“I thought ‘well, there’s a bird I’ve never seen before,'” Stephenson told AL.com. “Then I realized it was a cardinal, and it was a yellow cardinal.”
Stephenson gets lots of cardinals. She has a giant feeder filled with sunflower seeds which they love. But she’s never seen a yellow cardinal before. And there’s a good reason for that.
Apparently, these birds are only seen once a year according to Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill.
“This morning Charlie Stephenson provided me with the opportunity to photograph the most captivating cardinal in Alabaster, Alabama,” Stephenson’s friend, professional photographer Jeremy Black wrote on Facebook.
“This yellow cardinal displays a rare mutation that causes the metabolic process to produce a different type of pigment than the typical red coloration. According to a biologist from Auburn University, this mutation is so rare that only one is seen each year in the United States.”
Apparently, it’s a one in a million sighting.
“I’ve been birdwatching in the range of cardinals for 40 years and I’ve never seen a yellow bird in the wild,” Hill said. “I would estimate that in any given year there are two or three yellow cardinals at backyard feeding stations somewhere in the U.S. or Canada,” Hill said. “There are probably a million bird feeding stations in that area so very very roughly, yellow cardinals are a one in a million mutation.”
Black saw Stephenson’s post about the bird on Facebook and asked if he could come and photograph the bird.
“As soon as I saw it on her social media, I was kind of curious and I wanted to go explore and see if I could find it,” Black said. “I finally saw it after about five hours.”
Apparently, the yellow cardinal stops by to see Stephenson all the time.
“Every time I watch the bird feeder, I can see him,” she said. “The cardinals in my back yard typically come in the morning and again in the evening and I can only bird-watch on weekends until the time changes, but on weekends, I’ll sit there and watch for him. Every time we’ve looked for him, he’ll show up at least once a day.”
Black has apparently also discovered that the yellow cardinal has a friend.
“I’m proud to introduce the yellow cardinal’s best friend! A male northern cardinal with an injured foot. These two very unique and beautiful cardinals were documented together in one photograph,” he wrote on Facebook. “Both different in their own ways but just wanting to fit in they’ve made a bond and have been documented staying closely by each other for the past week!”
And the photo of the two of them together is pretty cool.
“This evening I got lucky enough to spot the rare yellow cardinal again in Alabaster, Alabama. I’m so grateful to be able to share these portraits with you all!” Black wrote. “My next goal is to document this rare Yellow Cardinal that displays a pigment mutation alongside a Red Cardinal! I owe a large thank you to Charlie Stephenson, as well as all of you for constantly sharing my previous portraiture!”
These two stunning birds look absolutely brilliant next to one another. You can check out the footage of the yellow cardinal hanging around Stephenson’s bird feeder in the video below.
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