A rare specimen of a half-male and half-female bird is sighted in Colombia

2024-01-05 21:21:32

Updated Friday, January 5, 2024 – 20:21

It has typical male plumage on the right side (blue) and female plumage on the left (green).

Photograph provided by John Murillo to AFP.

A group of researchers has sighted in Colombia a rare specimen of wild green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) half male and half female that presented the typical plumage of both sexes, the second sighting of such a bird but the first in a hundred years, according to the research.

Professor Hamish Spencer from the University of Otago (New Zealand) and Colombian amateur ornithologist John Murillo have published their research in the Journal of Field Ornithology, where they specify that they were able to corroborate the discovery thanks to color photographs and a short video recorded in Villamara, in the department of Caldas, in the center of the country.

It is a “bilateral gynandromorph”: the bird had a typical male plumage on the right side and female on the left, that is, it was half green -specific feathers of females- and half blue -typical plumage of the male-.

“The peak appeared to be consistent with the male coloringalthough the lower left part of the jaw was possibly a duller yellow,” the experts detail.

This bird is native to Mexico, Central and South America, it measures about 14 centimeters and weighs about 17 grams. It also has marked sexual dimorphism.

“It was present for at least 21 months – between October 2021 and June 2023 – and its behavior largely coincides with that of other wild C. spiza, although he often waited for them to leave to feed of the fruit that the owners of the farm planted daily,” the researchers added.

Furthermore, they infer that “female plumage is possible on both sides, a conclusion that supports the double fertilization model of bilateral gynandromorphy.”