This Northern Cardinal lost a lot of feathers around his eyes but still managed to find a great looking mate. We believe his mate is the same female two years ago that had no crest and who we nicknamed “crestless”.
Note: We are out in the field on our 72-hour bird count. We will be posting about our findings in the days to come so stay tuned!!
All About Birds
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Lana 05.26.08 at 2:10 pm
I just noticed a male cardinal like this in our backyard recently, but he’s missing most of his head feathers. Has about 3 teeny bits left of his crest & little else. Poor guy!
The Birdfreak Team 05.28.08 at 8:38 am
Lana - We believe this to just be a molting issue or he got something on his head and lost his feathers. Either way, they should grow back (at least they did with the female cardinal)