FEMALE BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD WITH PARTIAL MALE PLUMAGE

摘要

There are few records of functionally female birds exhibiting partial to total male plumages. On 26 March 2004, we collected a female Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) at Fort Hood, Texas, with a presumably functional ovary and whose back and belly exhibited the glossy, greenish-black plumage typical of after-hatch-year males. This individual is a unique specimen because (with the exception of partial albinism) no aberrant plumages have been reported for Brown-headed Cowbirds.