Last night I saw what I think may be the ugliest cardinal ever. I felt a bit sorry for him. Usually they are amoung the most beautiful of birds, with that bright red colour and everything in it’s proper place. But it is that time of year. Molting season.
I hadn’t quite realized we had gotten to that point, but I happened to glance out the back window just as a bird landed on the railing. It was red. Or reddish. I had to stare for a while to figure out what it was. It certainly did not look like your regular cardinal. Tufts of feathers were sticking out in all directions, many were completely missing from the head, the colour was faded, and it just didn’t look good. It just looked like it was having a really bad hair day. Really bad.
I will admit, I find these sorts of things amusing. Cardinals and blue jays and birds like that are usually amoung the nicest looking around. Generally, they tend to be very well groomed and look really good. Except for that brief period in the summer when they look like they have been run over by a lawn mower.
Molting season was not something I was always aware of. It first came to my notice a few years ago when I spotted a bald blue jay. At first I thought maybe it was a young bird, not quite growing into it’s feathers. It was completely missing head feathers. Or maybe it had joined some sort of religious order that required a shaved head. Or possibly it had young birds at home and had ripped out all it’s head feathers in frustration. No. It was just molting season.
It surprised me a bit that the usually magnificent looking cardinals go through the same thing.
The good news for them, this is a relatively short period of time. They will soon have fresh new feathers and be back to looking as good or better than ever. In the meantime, I can laugh at them, as these once beautiful birds go through their scruffy period. It makes me feel better on those days when I might not be looking my best.
Although they do look a bit embarrassed to be caught looking that way. Maybe they could wear a mask until the feathers grow back.
