Wordless Wednesday: Northern Cardinal

Young cardinals

My garden is full of juvenile Northern Cardinals just now and most of them show up at the feeders late in the day to have a snack before settling down for the night. I sat and watched my backyard feeders just after the sun went down today and I counted at least six juveniles among the several cardinals that gathered there.

Although the light was fading fast, I decided to try to record some of them with the camera.

Several of the birds gathered on the ground under the feeders to look for fallen seeds, but this little lady chose to take an easier route and settled on one the feeders.

Meanwhile, a young male perched on top of the feeder.

This young male surveyed the scene from a perch in a nearby crape myrtle tree.

In a few weeks, all of these birds will have completed their first molt and will be sleek and beautiful in the colors of their adulthood. I look forward to watching them make that transition.

Silent Sunday: Young cardinal

It's molting time

The usually sleek, every-feather-in-place backyard birds are looking decidedly raggedy these days.  Not only are feathers out of place, they are often missing.  It's not at all unusual to see a bald Northern Cardinal or Blue Jay settling in for a nosh at one of my feeders or for a cooling dip in one of the birdbaths.  And what better time of year to drop a few feathers than when the temperatures are in the triple-digits?

I sometimes get questions from readers concerned that something is wrong with the balding birds that they are seeing around their yards or around town, but, usually, nothing is amiss.  In fact, something is right.  The bird with the dodgy feathers has completed his or her duties as a parent, having flown him/herself ragged while providing food and protection for the next generation.  The old crop of feathers has been completely worn out in the process and it's time for the bird to drop them and grow some new and perfect ones.  Thus, you might see a Northern Cardinal that looks like this today:

   He does look a little shabby and down-at-heel, doesn't he?  But in a few weeks, he'll look like this:

 Sleek and beautiful once again.

And, as for the disheveled Northern Mockingbird that was perched just outside my office window this morning, don't feel sorry for him. 

He may look like this today, with his bare neck showing.

But give him a few weeks and he'll be back in top form again!

I do think it is very clever of Mother Nature to have scheduled the molt for a time when the birds surely need some relief from the heat.  There are few better insulation materials than down and feathers.  They help birds survive in some of the coldest climates on earth, but in August in Texas, it's time to shuck off every feather that you reasonably can.  It's molting time.