Extremely rare half-female, half-male bird caught on camera

By Isobel Williams via SWNS

An extremely rare half-male, half-female bird has been caught on camera.

It is only the second example recorded in over 100 years of a wild Green Honeycreeper with both distinct half-green, female, and half-blue, male, plumage.

It was spotted by Professor Hamish Spencer while on holiday in Colombia.

Spencer, a zoologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says he felt "privileged" to see the phenomenally rare bird.

He said: “Many birdwatchers could go their whole lives and not see a bilateral gynandromorph in any species of bird.

"The phenomenon is extremely rare in birds, I know of no examples from New Zealand ever.

“It is very striking, I was very privileged to see it.”

The photographs of the amazing discovery make the find even more remarkable, and Spencer said that they are “arguably the best of a wild bilateral gynandromorphic bird of any species ever”.

A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics.

The astonishing discovery, published in the Journal of Field Ornithology, is only the second recorded example of gynandromorphism in the species in more than 100 years.

Spencer believes that studying such "half and half" phenomenon is important for an understanding of sex determination and sexual behavior in birds.

He said: “This particular example of bilateral gynandromorphy – male one side and female the other – shows that, as in several other species, either side of the bird can be male or female.

“The phenomenon arises from an error during female cell division to produce an egg, followed by double-fertilization by two sperm.”

The phenomenon has been seen in other species such as insects - especially butterflies - crustaceans, spiders, and even lizards plus rodents.

Spencer added: “Be always on the lookout for oddities – who will find the first New Zealand example of a bilateral gynandromorph in a bird?”