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© All Rights Reserved
(Click on image to enlarge)
I took these photographs of a "bald" female Northern Cardinal in my yard this past week.She looked like some kind of weird vulture bird, but she was with a mate, so I knew she had to be a Cardinal.
I did an Internet search, and found that bald Cardinals do happen, but the experts aren't sure why. This site said bald headed birds are usually seen in the Summer and Fall, when they're molting, but it is Spring here for me in the Northern hemisphere. (And I'm in the North East US, where it has been an unseasonably cold Spring.)
But they also said this: "Other cases of baldness may result from feather mites or lice, or some environmental or nutritional factor. But no one knows for sure, and the condition has not been well studied. Fortunately, new head feathers grow in within a few weeks."
Note: The hole in her head, below her eye, is her ear. (I read that on another site, when I was researching this.)
If anyone knows more about this phenomena, or has seen this too, please leave a comment.
My first photo is my entry for the following, in the hopes that people who know more about this will see it and leave comments:
Wild Bird Wednesday
Camera Critters #318
I'd Rather Be Birding
3 comments:
i've seen them in late summer, here - after breeding season when they molt. i'm not sure what would cause it now.
We had a bald male that came to our yard for years!
I would have suggested a mite infection.
One think you may want to do is give your bird feeding area a good clean if this bird has been around for a while.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
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