Bizarre....

....that's what I thought when I looked out the window & saw this cardinal---and at first I wasn't even sure that it WAS a cardinal. It's body looks normal but it's head looks almost prehistoric, don't you think? I looked online to see if they molt to that extreme & read that birds sometimes get an infestation of mites; they rub their heads so hard that all the feathers come off! Poor thing! It sure changes their entire look when they lose feathers--looks more like a turkey vulture than a cardinal!!