Even though people are reporting on these birds more often, Hill expects that it's a less than one-in-a-million chance to actually spot one. "That was actually a quote I gave a reporter in 2018 ...

Rare yellow cardinal spotted in Illinois backyard – a 'one-in-a-million' chance. ... There's almost no red carotenoids in the diets of cardinals or almost any other bird," Hill told USA TODAY.

When Illinois became a state in 1818, spotting a cardinal in the northern portion of the Land of Lincoln would have been highly unusual. It first expanded its range to northern Ohio in the 1830s.

Cardinals are known for their bright red color, but an Illinois couple had a one-in-a-million experience with a member of the species in a different hue. In February 2020, Chelsea Curry noticed a ...

As it turns out, a one-in-a-million yellow cardinal had decided to make himself at home at the Currys’ bird feeders in rural Rushville, a quiet farm community 200 miles southwest of Chicago.

For Illinois Birds, ... “So like the cardinal, which is our state bird, didn’t even occur [in Kane County] 100 years ago. It was a forest bird in Southern Illinois,” Ward said.