Bald Cardinals, Eye Disease, etc.

I read an article on the molting patterns of Cardinals and Blue Jays. I had seen people discussing whether these sad looking birds had mites or disease, that caused them to lose all their head feathers. The article/blog entry is about 12 years old, but I think it is very accurate and extremely interesting. It discusses molting, and this phenomenon, affecting Cardinals, Blue Jays, Grackles, etc. every summer. If you would like to read it in it's entirety, the link is here. Fascinating read.

Here is one of my male Cardinals experiencing this molting pattern. I have at least one, every summer that looks like this:

Male Cardinal - "Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful!"

I have also been noticing a terrible increase in the number of Finches affected with House Finch Conjunctivitis Eye Disease. Terrible disease, that blinds the bird and then it dies because it hits something while flying, or starves because it cannot see to find food.

I have a few House Finches at my feeders affected by this, and found one dead under the feeders. I managed to catch one yesterday and take it to Orphaned Wildlife Rescue in Lusby. But, I am still very upset that there are more infected and concerned they will spread it as this is extremely contagious and the House Finches are very social and are always congregated and "at" each other.

Poor little House Finch with this eye disease

My heart aches for these little sweeties, and I will continue to try to help get them treatment.

Onward to a lighter note. Lots of young birds at the feeders, and I have peeked in the Bluebird nest and the eggs still haven't hatched yet... any day now!

Young Blue Jay giving me the eye as he prepares to grab a peanut!

Young Cardinal

Interesting creature in my house. I said to my husband "why is there a dead leaf on our wall?". He laughed... that is his camouflage. I googled "Moth that looks like a dead leaf" and voila!