Community Chat

[feline groovy]

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@Witchy Womanwrote:

@SoX

So sad to hear your Cardinal lost "his" tree!  I hope he found another place to perch.

I miss seeing groups of them, but, as I said, the squirrels overran my feeders -- I tried many "squirrel proof" types -- very expensive -- none worked.  They chewed threw or toppled everything I put up.  Then the racoons took out a few.  It was a never ending battle.  Not to mention the huge volume of seeds I was going through weekly.

So, I made a decision to just keep a heated bird bath in the winter, but no seeds.  We are in the woods and abundant food for them, I believe, but I still loved seeing them gather.

My other favorite is an Indigo Bunting -- bright teal green/blue!  Almost too beautiful to believe.

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@Witchy Woman:  indeed.

[emmysmom]

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@feline groovywrote:

Extremely rare 'one in a million' yellow cardinal is spotted in Alabama

• A rare yellow cardinal has been spotted in Shelby County, Alabama
• Cardinals are known for their red color, but yellow cardinals appear to lack the enzyme that turns their plumage crimson
• Wedding photographer Jeremy Black recently took pictures of the rare bird in a friend's backyard  
• Auburn University biology Professor Geoffrey Hill called it a 'one in a million' mutation  

PUBLISHED: 11:10 EST, 1 March 2018 | UPDATED: 11:48 EST, 1 March 2018

A 'one in a million' yellow cardinal has been spotted in Shelby County, Alabama. 

Alabaster resident Charlie Stephenson first noticed the bird eating out of her backyard feeder in late January, and posted about it on Facebook. 

A friend, wedding photographer Jeremy Black, saw the post and asked Stephenson if he could camp out in her back yard to try and get some pictures of the rare 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 told AL.com. 

Stephenson invited Black over on February 19, and after waiting five hours, the photographer was able to snap pictures of the elusive bird. 

'I started out sitting in her backyard hoping that maybe I would see it. A lot of cardinals came by and none of them were yellow, so I decided to be a little bit more evasive and hide on her screened-in porch. About two or three hours after I moved to the porch, it finally showed up,' he said. 

Cardinals are known for their bright red plumage, but yellow cardinals carry a genetic mutation that makes their feathers yellow, said Auburn University biology Professor Geoffrey Hill. 

'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.

'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 says he wants to take even more photos of the bird - ideally next to a regular red cardinal for contrast. 

'My current goal is to try and visit her backyard or neighborhood as frequently as possible and see if I can get that shot with both birds together,' Black said. 

(special alert to @Bird mama & @chickenbutt)

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I have one word..GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ohh how I love cardinals..thanks for sharing!

[SXMGirl]

@feline groovy, thank you for the beautiful pictures.  The birds are gorgeous.  

[stevieb]

Absolutely beautiful!

[software]

I live near Alabaster, Alabama where the yellow cardinal was spotted.

I saw on the local news this morning, the photographer stayed in the area for hours to get a picture of a red & yellow cardinal together

I tried to post it here but my computer is not cooperating

If you are able to access FaceBook, look for Jeremy Black Photography

There's a picture posted Monday of a yellow and red cardinal together.   

[Spurt]

Just beautiful thank you for sharing........

I saw and heard a beautiful femal cardial this morning in my crepe myrtle tree.............The cardinals are my favorite bird......

[Katcat1]

Both those birds are truly beautiful.  thanks for posting.

[software]

According to the photographer, not photo-shopped

[Kitty Galore]

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@feline groovywrote:

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@Witchy Womanwrote:

@SoX

So sad to hear your Cardinal lost "his" tree!  I hope he found another place to perch.

I miss seeing groups of them, but, as I said, the squirrels overran my feeders -- I tried many "squirrel proof" types -- very expensive -- none worked.  They chewed threw or toppled everything I put up.  Then the racoons took out a few.  It was a never ending battle.  Not to mention the huge volume of seeds I was going through weekly.

So, I made a decision to just keep a heated bird bath in the winter, but no seeds.  We are in the woods and abundant food for them, I believe, but I still loved seeing them gather.

My other favorite is an Indigo Bunting -- bright teal green/blue!  Almost too beautiful to believe.

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@Witchy Woman:  indeed.

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@feline groovywrote:

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@Witchy Womanwrote:

@SoX

So sad to hear your Cardinal lost "his" tree!  I hope he found another place to perch.

I miss seeing groups of them, but, as I said, the squirrels overran my feeders -- I tried many "squirrel proof" types -- very expensive -- none worked.  They chewed threw or toppled everything I put up.  Then the racoons took out a few.  It was a never ending battle.  Not to mention the huge volume of seeds I was going through weekly.

So, I made a decision to just keep a heated bird bath in the winter, but no seeds.  We are in the woods and abundant food for them, I believe, but I still loved seeing them gather.

My other favorite is an Indigo Bunting -- bright teal green/blue!  Almost too beautiful to believe.

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@Witchy Woman:  indeed.

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Same thing happened to us ,  nothing worked to deter those squirrels.  We so enjoyed watching the beautiful sweet birds at the bird feeders we hung in our trees ,  we live near woods as well.   Finally after going through tons of bird seed as the squirrels would eat it all in an afternoon and exhausting every option to keep them away we gave up.  I felt so bad as I just loved seeing all the different species of birds coming yo feed ,  especially the cardinals !  They hold a special meaning for me .  One thing I just found out is someone my brother kniws put a slinky on a pole and the squirrels can't make it up to the feeder..... We are thinking of trying that .  We would give to put on a poke not in a tree though.