The Bald Cardinal

With many flying visitors in all seasons here in Missouri our single feeder sees lots of use . We feed a lot of birds.

This spring of 2010 we have had a new visitor, a real character. He is a cardinal, but unlike most cardinals, he has taken to us. When Cheryl goes into the yard in the a.m. he is always there, and reminds her of her responsibilities. If she does not immediately respond with food in the feeder, he chirps and flies to the Weber grill on the patio. If the back door is open, he will hop inside the house, chirping his little ping noise, find the bird seed, and help himself.

I noticed he had a unique coloration around his neck at first, with dark spaces in his otherwise solid red feathers. As time passed, he seemed to be losing his top knot, and the dark areas became larger. A couple of weeks ago it appeared he lost all feathers on his neck and head, and was now bald. Cheryl began calling him Baldy Boy. Hey, Baldy Boy. Better him than me.

I worried he may have a disease or mites causing his loss of feathers. A search on the internet put my mind at ease. He is molting, which is common at the end of spring, beginning of summer, after breeding season. I felt he was safe from fatherhood looking like that.

Yesterday, July 9, 2010, he was bopping around the yard in the afternoon. I called to him, "You can't still be hungry, B.B." He took off and sailed into a small tree back behind our fence. It is not our property back there, it is an open field, but I mow the grass back twenty feet to prevent encroachment of snakes, etc.

I followed him to the little tree with my camera, since I don't have a good picture of him. He was in there on the edge of a nest. I was curious, but I couldn't see into the nest, so I pointed my camera at arm's length above the nest. This is what the camera saw.

Then I noticed off in the foliage a cute little lady cardinal.

Well done, you bald rascal.