Thanks to all of you who wrote about "bald cardinals"! I am new to
this list and this was my first post - nice bunch of folks y'all
are, and I learn alot -
Sydney
On Jun 29, 2006, at 10:59 PM, Edward Boyd wrote:
> For those of you that haven't seen this before, each summer during
> the period in which Cardinals molt their head feathers, the adults
> often get a bald appearance as they usually molt off all of their
> head feather at once. With-in two weeks or so the feathers will be
> grown in enough to hide the dark skin underlying the feathers that
> we usually see and all will be normal in the world in regards to
> Cardinals again. This is just a predecessor to the rest of the
> molts that will be occurring in the bird world after the young have
> fledged and it will signal the end of territorial displays and
> singing as the birds become quiet due to their hormonal changes and
> their vulnerability due to the loss of flight feathers. When the
> molt is complete, the birds will begin other changes that will
> prepare them for migration or for the change of seasons and the
> winters months that lie ahead. Some neotropic species do not
> complete their molts until arriving on the wintering grounds after
> migration is complete, this is especially true in some flycatchers.
>
> Ed Boyd
> Westminster, MD
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Monroe Harden"
> <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 8:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] strange looking cardinal
>
>
>> Sydney wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> We have a cardinal in our yard with a bluish head and no crest! The
>>> rest of the bird definitely looks like a male cardinal. I don't
>>> think he is bald.- he is hanging around our yard and visiting the
>>> feeder. Anyone else seen something like this?
>>> Sydney
>>
>> Could it be a Blue Grosbeak?
>>
>> Monroe Harden
>>
> |