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
>