Bald Cardinals

One resembles a Black Vulture and the other a punk rocker. One is bald and the other has a red mohawk. Neither are sporting the latest hair fashion. It is both weird and comical. Both are male Northern Cardinals in various states of hair loss or having a bad hair day at best. Surely, they are not doing this on purpose?

Cardinals molt once a year, usually beginning after they have bred. It is the middle of June, actually today is the first day of summer, and there is a good chance that they will raise one more brood this summer. When birds molt it is usually a few feathers or a small section at a time and the whole process is spread out over a 3 months period. While this is going on and new feathers are growing in, the bird takes on a ratty appearance. So it is unlikely that a complete bare head is due to molting. While many birds are afflicted with parasites, bacteria and or fungi, Cardinals, along with Blue Jays, seem most affected by head mites and feather lice.

Birds host loads of tiny parasites, and keeping their feathers clean, by taking a water bath, dust bathing and preening, often gets rid of most of them. So what is up with the ‘bald‘ look? Maybe the mites, which are probably just under the skin, really itch. A bird having an itch on the head can only scratch it with its feet, which may lead to rubbing all the feathers off. A plausible reason as to why it only occurs on the head and not on any other part of the body, maybe because the bird can reach those other areas with its bill? Or could it be due to nutritional deficiencies or environmental factors (though we can’t blame everything on global warming)?

What was interesting was that there were two birds coming to the feeders – were they from the same nest? Both these males look as though they are adults, but were they born this year or are they older than that? Cardinals attain their adult beak color (orange instead of the juvenile gray) at about 8-10 weeks of age. This would mean that if our birds were born this year, it would have had to have been sometime in early April – that is early, but not totally out of the question. I raise this question because we have two birds in this condition. If they were this years birds they may have got mites while they were still in the nest. If they are last years birds or older, then it might be a bit of a coincidence that two birds got this look at the same time?

Are they at a disadvantage? I would have thought so. I’m sure a potential mate would rather find one with a full head of hair. It is tough to raise a crest to show how attractive you are or raise it in anger when it is missing. There is certainly be less insulation ‘up top’ and it would probably affect areodynamics. It was also clear that when a ‘real’ male cardinal (below) showed up he would chase off the ‘baldies’. I’m not sure why – maybe he finds the company undesirable? It can not be because ‘baldie’ is better looking. What we do know is that once the natural process of molting occurs, those head feathers will likely return.