A Bad Hair Day?

Now that the garden is progressing, I am taking more time just sitting in it...and taking notice more closely of what is happening out there bird-wise. 

This was a shocker...

Is that not a female cardinal..a bald female cardinal? Oh so sad..what is the matter with her? Is she ill? But she seems otherwise healthy and still has her appetite...

Of course I turned to the internet ..It seems that cardinals molt? and can look quite scraggly as if they are just having a bad hair day.. but it is normal. Whew! 

But then I read another article and it seems also that a totally bald cardinal is NOT normal? In that case, it could be parasites or result of a traumatic injury? Oh no...I was hoping for molting...

But seeing as how there are varying opinions, I am choosing "molting", and assuming that she will soon be as beautiful as ever...I just hope she does not happen to glance at herself in one of the two mirrors I have hanging in the garden...it might be a bit of a shock...