Strange Birds
Bald Birds
Q. I’ve been seeing a bald cardinal at my feeder. Is it sick?
A.
In fall, we receive many inquiries about bald birds, especially
Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays. In late summer and fall, when a bird
molts, it usually grows and replaces all its feathers gradually, but
occasionally a bird loses all the feathers on its head at once. The
result is a very strange looking bald bird! Don’t worry--usually the
feathers grow back just fine.
It is possible that the baldness
is caused by environmental or nutritional factors, feather mites, or
lice. To read more and take a look at photos of other bald birds, visit
the “Bald Birds” page on the Project FeederWatch web site.
White or Partially White Birds
Q: A bird in my yard looks just like a sparrow except that part of its feathers are
complete white. What is it?
A. If it looks like a sparrow and hangs around with sparrows, it
probably
is a sparrow, just a partially albino one. For photos of partially
albino birds and information about them, visit our pages on "Strange Birds at Your Feeder" and "Color Abnormalities."