Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 15:10:31 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Bald birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, Quite simply your birds are molting. Some birds molt a lot of their head feathers at once as they go about replacing them. Blue Jays are especially noteworthy for looking ungainly and vulture-like during head molt. I hadn't noticed this as much with cardinals but some must do so as well. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janet Millenson" To: Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 1:38 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Bald birds > The other day there was a cardinal in my yard whose head was bare, and just > now I saw a Blue Jay with the same 'do! (What, are crests "out" this year?!) > Are these probably young birds whose relatives have picked on them, > literally, or is there some other likely explanation? ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================