A Florida resident managed to capture on camera a ‘one in a million’ bird. Now the whole world gets to see this rare beauty.
The yellow northern cardinal has a genetic color mutation which gives it a vibrant yellow color.
Tracy Workman, who teaches photography at a homeschooling organization, said she first spotted the bird in the backyard of her Port St. Lucie home.
According to MSN News the next time she saw it in her backyard she managed to capture it on camera.
In a comment on her Facebook page Tracy said she only had five minutes to take pictures of the cardinal before she had to be somewhere else.
“Following a bird is, of course, not the best way to get pictures of it,” Tracy said. “But, at first, I didn’t believe I actually saw it. I was super excited.”
Geoffrey Hill, a professor and curator of birds at Auburn University, Alabama, and an expert on bird coloration, said Workman had captured an adult male northern cardinal with a rare genetic mutation, he told MSN News.
Sunny the rare cardinal
Only three yellow cardinal sightings are reported a year, making the bird’s appearance a “one in a million” finding, he said.
Tracy called the rare yellow cardinal “Sunny,” adding on her Facebook post, “The obvious name for the only yellow cardinal reported in Florida is Sunny.” I thought it was a good name for a yellow cardinal in Florida.”
Thomas Webber, a collection manager of the Division of Ornithology at the Florida Museum in Gainesville, said the yellow cardinal was “an extremely rare phenomenon.”
Hundreds of birds are threatened with extinction because of climate change.
Please share this so more people can get excited about this rare beautiful bird and our bird population in general. We must do all we can to protect them.
