Bad Hair Day Cardinal

Doing what all teenage boys do- stuffing his face and wearing grungy feathers (clothes for the human kind).

Almost done catching up with July- no need to comment unless you want to!

[Allison Williams]

LOL!

[*lynn]

amazing!

[Taffy]

Terrific capture - so cute with the seeding in its mouth.

[Diane]

LOL. Love the photo and your title.

[Babs]

Nice timing with the seed in his beak. I love his spots.

[Diana]

Terrific capture and processing.

[Joan Robillard]

Never seen a spotted cardinal

[Maggiemae]

He has a puffy wee chest and its a great photo - he must have been still for you!

[katy]

Perfect and such a wonderful description! I saw one very similar to this the other day and couldn’t figure out what kind of bird it was because his crest was a hot mess just like this one.

[Nina Ganci]

impressive timing
fav

[Helen Jane]

your description amused me. Is that spotty appearance usual? I was wondering whether he had a dose of chicken pox making him so disheveled. 🤣

[Ann H. LeFevre]

@helenhall He's molting- his soft brown feathers which give him camouflage while he's still in the nest are giving way to the brilliant red feathers which will attract the ladies when he's ready to mate.

@maggiemae Somewhat- but I just keep shooting!

@allie912 @lynnz @taffy @eudora @onewing @ludwigsdiana @joansmor @maggiemae @grammyn @ninaganci @helenhall

Thank you to one and all- this was such a fun shoot. I'd never seen a male molting before and at first I thought it was a female. But you can see quite clearly by the patches that he's going to be all red someday soon.

Thanks for all the views, comments and favs!

[Kathy]

This capture of the cardinal "coming into his colors" is fantastic.

[Harry J Benson]

Cute title

[Ann H. LeFevre]

@randystreat @hjbenson
Thanks Kathy and Harry!

[margonaut]

I've seen a bald cardinal, but never a polka-dotted one! It's amazing!

[Ann H. LeFevre]

@margonaut Thanks Margo- it was really funny looking!