There's a junco in my yard that I've seen twice this season. It has no tail
feathers at all. I don't know if it was born this way or if it had a very
close encounter with a cat, but I am impressed that it seems to have no
trouble flying without all its equipment.

 

Yesterday it was close enough that I could see a blush of pink on its right
flank. Otherwise it looks like a normal female dark-eyed junco. Could this
bird be a hybrid?

 

Pat Valdata

Elkton, MD

 

"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is
heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other
thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine."
--Plato