So I have a female cardinal that comes to my house that's quite ugly. I finally took a picture of it. She has no feathers left on her head. Well, except 6 in her mohawk.
She seems perfectly healthy -- good size/weight. But looks really weird...
For most birds, molting is a process where a few feathers are lost and replaced at a time—the bird looks a little scruffy, but it always has a covering of feathers. In some species, however, particularly Blue Jays, cardinals, and possibly grackles, a few individuals seem to lose all the feathers on their heads at once, resulting in a very odd looking bird.
I don't think it is sick, we get Magpies with similar bald heads or just a few head feathers. It seems to be a genetic mutation with offspring displaying the parents defects. This also applies to white feathers etc.
For most birds, molting is a process where a few feathers are lost and replaced at a time—the bird looks a little scruffy, but it always has a covering of feathers. In some species, however, particularly Blue Jays, cardinals, and possibly grackles, a few individuals seem to lose all the feathers on their heads at once, resulting in a very odd looking bird.
thanks! She's been getting uglier and uglier as time goes on. Hopefully (for her sake) it's temporary. :D
Birds will also manifest stress through the loss of feathers, as well. Even if she isn't sick, if she's stressed from competition or other bird bullying or something like that it's perfectly normal for birds to lose plumage as a result.
Now, if you want to notice something really weird about birds... count the toes on pigeons feet for awhile and see the variation...
