Charlie Stephenson of Alabaster, Ala. noticed something strange about the cardinal hopping around her backyard. The bird wasn't red or brown like the typical cardinal, but yellow according to National Geographic.
Stephenson was curious about the bird so she took a photo of it and posted it on Facebook.
She learned that this rare male northern cardinal has a "one in a million" genetic mutation that makes its red feathers turn yellow according to Bird Curator at Auburn University in Alabama Geoffrey Hill.
There is another breed of yellow cardinal native to South America, but the northern cardinal shows up somewhere in the U.S almost every year according to Wild Birds Unlimited (Birmingham, AL).
