Thank you deanie. I had a cowbird here this summer: This fella this morning was cold or something. He never moved. And since he was new, I didn't want to rattle him, so I couldn't use my tripod that was in my kitchen sink. I had to stand away in my kitchen and shoot thru a window. Well as you see, this fella was darn near black. I could see the "spilled oil" color on its' feathers, however. Dax

Ok, I am doing some reseach on the issue. I did find a neat web page which shows us some pics of other similarly affected Cardinals and discusses causes of baldness. Check it out here: http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030701.html and this: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw98/baldbirds.html and this: http://www.birdchick.com/wp/2007/08/bald-cardinals-and-other-bald-birds/ "The thing that I find interesting is that the cardinal that I shot had white skin not dark skin." I wasn't able to find anything which specifically stated the reason why the skin would be white instead of dark, but this is obviously something which isn't so uncommon. I'll keep looking when I get time, and if I find anything else re the white skin, I will come back and post it for you. :o)

Wow, I've found the right place --- psycho bird victims unite! I've had male cardinal attacking my windows for 7 months now. I've tried covering windows, spraying windex(it was all I had) on outside of window, aluminum foil on outside of windows(I got creative for a while). If I cover one window he comes to another. He has now found my bedroom. This is from dawn to dusk and I'm not a fan of getting up at dusk! It's making me crazy, I'm smoking more, thinking of buying a gun(used to be a pacificist...) and losing friends! I've always been one to try to see a 'meaning' from the universe in odd moments but my love and peace tendencies are waning quickly. Please let me know if anything has worked ... I've got a lot of windows. Jeez, I just read they can live 15 years. I dont thidsfnk ihave thaat mch tiim lftt.

Very nice! It's hard to imagine eating sunflower seeds without fingers but he does it so well. I'd never noticed the shape of the cardinal's bill where the upper and lower meet. it's not just a flat surface like a hammer and anvil, it's zigzagged which must be more efficient. The tongue must be very active too. Interesting! Claire