A couple of months ago I made a post about a female Cardinal that I spotted at my bird feeders. It looked as though she had some kind of trauma happen to her. Other than the missing feathers and some damage to her beak she appeared to be doing alright. After that post I didn't see her much at all. I spotted her a couple of times in the trees in my back yard and just figured she had a nest somewhere back there and there was more food available by way of nature and not feeders. I did see a big drop in the number of birds visiting. I think they are okay though as I sure can hear them. Also, my neighbor put out a couple of feeders. Anyway, for about a month I didn't see her at all and I could only hope that she was still alive and raising some babies. A few weeks ago I was up early one rainy morning and I looked out at the feeders and could only see a dark bird figure at a feeder so I got my camera and zoomed in to see it was her. It was still very early in the morning without much light so the photos I got were not very good. However, she did stick around for awhile and as it got a bit brighter out I was able to capture some photos of her.
As you can see she didn't get her head feathers back or perhaps I should say hasn't gotten them back yet. I don't know at this point if she will but she looks in good shape otherwise and her beak looks much better than the last time I posted about her so I'm happy for that at least.
Additionally, I guess that I'm assuming this is indeed the same female Cardinal but I do believe it is her. In the many years that I've lived here this is the only time that I've seen a Cardinal like this.
I still think she suffered some type of trauma but it is possible that her feather loss was caused by bird mites. When grooming they can't really get to their head to get off mites that may be on them.
I'm really just happy that she is still around even if I don't see her often now. I do wonder if she has had babies since as shown in my last post she had a mate. When she visits the feeders I noticed she would visit in the early morning hours. I did add a small mix of seeds in with the safflower seeds in my feeders. The House Sparrows seem to be more happy getting bugs which are plentiful right now. I do have a few finches that continue to visit and, at least, a mated pair of Cardinals. As I'm writing this I can see the pair of Cardinals outside my window. They do make a pretty cute couple but more on them another time! 💖
Thank you @melinda010100 for Feathered Friends and #featheredfriday!
All photos and text by me @deerjay. All rights reserved.
