this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Probably mites.
I was gonna say I don't think this is a normal part of the molting process...
Don't know why the beak be like that.
I have yet to see missing feathers like that myself and I have a BUNCH of cardinals and blue jays. I do see the young "punk rocker" cardinals.
But the Internet says molting feathers is true!
The only dark horror I witnessed was when a murder of crows came into the neighborhood and used my bird bath for their dark rituals for 2 weeks.
Maybe I didn't see this kind of cardinal because they didn't complete the rites to summon it?
Tap for spoiler
*Edited for being a moron and not reading OPThe head is normal molting. The beak damage can be from mite.
Rethinking all those plans to befriend all the crows in the neighborhood
The person you responded to was referring to why his beak looked weird, not to the lack of feathers on his head. But I didn't see anything in the article you posted about beaks.
Oops, I wasn't sure if the missing feathers were real and also thought that's gotta be mites causing it to lose feathers.
So I just learned that myself and was like "oh wow" and didn't think too much.