Wild Female Cardinal At My Feeder.

[jimbobcooters]

Has anyone ever seen a female Cardinal like this?

 

[churchmouse]

No........that is wild.

 

[goldtrigger]

Very cool! You are a great photographer!

 

[Snapdragon]

Yeah, she has unusual markings, all right.

A few years ago, we had one that would perch on a bush and fling herself against the kitchen window over and over. I tried putting stickers on the window so that she would know it was a window, but she kept coming back and flinging herself against that window for hours at a time for a couple of years. I finally cut that bush down.

 

[eric001]

Interesting. Looks like she thinks she's at least part bald eagle.

I'm sure it's some kind of mutation going on, but other than white coloring that looks weird, she looks healthy. I'd love to see if you have any young bald cardinals showing up this summer!

 

[eldirector]

Abnormal coloration in birds: Melanin reduction « Sibley Guides

I've seen similar years ago. I guess there is a "yellow" mutation as well.

 

[smokingman]

We had a weird one today as well.I think it is an Evening Grosbeak.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]
What she should look like on the left.

[/IMG]

 

[mom45]

There are quite a few birds that have different color patterns in the winter than they do in the summer. I'm not sure if the grosbeak is one of them but it may be. We had some cardinals in our area last year with the white heads.

 

[jimbobcooters]

There are quite a few birds that have different color patterns in the winter than they do in the summer. I'm not sure if the grosbeak is one of them but it may be. We had some cardinals in our area last year with the white heads.

i have since learned that she is leucistic .

 

[jlm223]

Never seen one like that, very cool.

 

[warthog]

NIce pix! I should put up a feeder. I do seem to have all the tress in my subdivision so I am sure I would get some great shots of them like these myself. I do have to wonder why there are no squirrels here though. Moved here a bit more than 8 years ago and I have yet to see one anywhere near my home.

OK, back on topic. I love these pix!

 

[Classic]

I reluctantly took down my feeders last fall. A whole family of hawks moved in to the neighborhood and were using my feeder as bait to decimate the local songbird population. Got tired of picking up miscellaneous body parts out of my yard from the recently eaten Titmice, Cardinals, Nuthatches and others.

 

[indyjohn]

Yes. I have one like that this winter. Very odd the first time I saw it I was wondering if it was a young male.

Classic- that is unfortunate. We enjoy our feeders in the back yard and we have a brood of Cooper's Hawks that live not too far away. We like the hawks too, never saw as many when I was a kid in west-central Indiana like we do today.

 

[nipprdog]

If you want to see something UGLY, Google bald headed cardinal. I didn't even know they existed until I saw one up close a few years ago. Creepy looking.

 

[Gluemanz28]

If you want to see something UGLY, Google bald headed cardinal. I didn't even know they existed until I saw one up close a few years ago. Creepy looking.

I have to agree about the bald headed cardinal looking creepy



But what does he have to do with birds????

 

[Snapdragon]

Leucism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[CMB69]

I remembered seeing pics of a bi/split colored Cardinal. One side drab, one side bright red.

A Gender-bender Colored Cardinal : Discovery News

A known phenomena but obviously rare.

 

[halfmileharry]

https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-tyc8&p=Cardinal family birds&type= Scroll over a couple of spaces. There's one marked like the one you photographed.

 

[Willie]

The "bald cardinals" are bald from mites....

 

[halfmileharry]

The "bald cardinals" are bald from mites....

Well, that sucks.