3 replies to this topic

[Anonymous]

I have a pair of cardinals, male and female, that visit my bird feeder daily. They do the usual cardinal things - feed each other and make their usual sounds. But I'm concerned as they both look terrible. Their feathers are a mess and the female shakes along one side. They seem to be eating alot, but I wonder if they could be sick or is this just molting. I don't seem to remember cardinals ever looking quite this bad.

By the way, my pair of Swainson's Thrush have taken off now that they've eaten all the virginia creeper berries. I hope to see them again next year as they were quite fun to watch and identify./forums/emoticons/emotion-18.gif

[KingstonOntarioBirder]

 http://www.tulsaaudu...d_cardinals.htm

The second link is a pic I posted at another site:

http://www.birdforum...achmentid=28034

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the really useful information.

Thank goodness my pair never lost their head feathers to the extent of the poor birds in the pictures I saw on the websites you recommended. I really think that these Chicago cardinals are molting. Since I first wrote on September 20th, they do seem plumper and their feathers are filling in - although both look like they've been dragged by the neck for a while. I can see that maybe, besides molting, that they might have a case of mites that they can't reach.

I'm glad I can help them nutrionally. And although I think male cardinals are absolutely gorgeous, I really think that a female cardinal is one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen.

[David Lukas]

Kate,

We're really glad to hear you say that you like female cardinals so much! Around our place we have a pair of towhees and we've noticed that they looked terribly scraggly for a while as they molted. It made the adults really easy to separate from the fresh, clean juveniles we were seeing along side them. A bad case of mites or some other passing illness would make your birds look even worse for wear but it's wonderful if your birds are recovering!

David Lukas and Simone Whitecloud