[mou] BALD CARDINAL

[KSlager at aol.com]

Last year we had a bald Blue Jay and this is one of many articles I had  
found regarding this occurrence:
 
_http://www.birdersworld.com/brd/default.aspx?c=a&id=512_ 
(http://www.birdersworld.com/brd/default.aspx?c=a&id=512) 
 
(taken from above link)
We've heard from many people who have seen bald birds lately. Naturally  they 
wonder, "Why is that bird bald?" The short answer is no one knows why it's  
bald, but we see this strange sight every summer, mostly in Northern Cardinals  
and Blue Jays. Of course, we can speculate...

Birds molt their feathers  throughout the year, and one possible explanation 
for baldness is that an  abnormal molt occurs on some birds, causing them to 
lose all of their head  feathers at once. The birds may be juveniles undergoing 
their first prebasic  molt. 

It's also possible that feather mites or lice may cause baldness.  The 
condition has not been studied closely, but fortunately, new feathers grow  in 
within a few weeks.

The _Cornell Lab of Ornithology_ 
(http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/BaldBirds.htm)  has more photos of bald cardinals,  as well as Blue 
Jays. The _Buffalo News published an article_ 
(http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw98/baldbirds.html)  on bald birds in 1998. Be  sure to check 
out Bill Hilton's _article and  amazing up-close photos_ 
(http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030701.html)  of a bald cardinal. And, finally, here is Syracuse, 
 New York, bird columnist _Ben Burtt's  take on bald birds_ 
(http://web.syr.edu/~bpburtt/Birds/Feb22-04.htm) .




In a message dated 6/20/2008 3:21:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
pjwuebker at hughes.net writes:

I was  out birding yesterday and came across a bald northern cardinal. I've 
never  seen such a thing. Kind of gross, but he had no idea he was not so 
beautiful  and was just singing away. Does anyone have an idea of what happened to 
this  bird? Was he born this way, have some mites or disease? Will he get 
better?  


I have posted an image on my web site in the INSTANTS OF NATURE  gallery. If 
you want to see, the address is: _http://photographyontheweb.ifp3.com/_ 
(http://photographyontheweb.ifp3.com/) 



 
PETER WUEBKER
_pjwuebker at hughes.net_ (mailto:pjwuebker at hughes.net) 


















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