'Once-In-A-Lifetime Sighting:' Incredibly Rare Half-Male, Half-Female Cardinal Spotted In Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH (KDKA-TV) -- A longtime birdwatcher in Pennsylvania says he had a "once-in-a-lifetime" bird sighting - a cardinal that is half-male and half-female.

"I had a once-in-a-lifetime, one in a million bird encounter!" James hill posted on Facebook.  Hill described the bird, which is known as a bilateral gynandromorph northern cardinal, as a bird divided right down the middle, half male and half female.

Typically, male cardinals have bright red plumage. Females, on the other hand, are "buffy brownish," Hill said in his Facebook post.

Hill says he spotted the cardinal Saturday.

Interestingly enough, another half-male, half -emale cardinal was spotted outside of Erie just two years ago. That bird was featured in National Geographic magazine.

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"Could this bird be the same individual as the Erie, PA, bird? Possibly — their bird was female on the left and male on the right, too," Hill said.

Hill says he's been birding for 48 years, and heard about the bird from a friend of the homeowner where it was spotted.

He got permission from the homeowner to take a few pictures of it.

Hill says the homeowners where the bird was spotted don't want to be identified and have people show up to see the bird, but that the bird is residing in Warren County, PA, in the general area of Grand Valley, PA as he stated in his Facebook post.