The result of a long hot summer?

In the last couple of weeks a number of others in the Facebook group Auckland Birds, have posted photos of blackbirds (mostly) looking quite lumpy and featherless around the head and neck. Those who have asked have been told that in hot dry weather these birds are liable to tick infestations, and that's what is being seen. 

While I was sitting at my desk and typing notes, I noticed this bird land in a tree outside the window. To my unaided sight, it looked odd, and I took this photo, which I think probably confirms that it is suffering from the same whatever that other photographers have shown.