FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: Wierd-looking Cardinals

["Thomas M Blair" <tomlyn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Eunice,
I had a friend send me this picture.. It's probably what your friend saw as 
well.. I think it's mites. The birds look like tiny vultures, but will be fine.
http://www.pbase.com/tomlyn/image/63988473
Lynda Blair
New Kent, VA
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: UVAAU@xxxxxxx 
  To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 1:03 PM
  Subject: [va-bird] Wierd-looking Cardinals


  A friend in Richmond has reported seeing a weird-looking male cardinal at his 
feeder in the Monument Avenue/Libbie Avenue area.  "The top of the cardinal's 
head is almost black when seen from some angles and his neck looks a little 
like an old chicken that somebody has tried (and failed) to wring off."  (His 
quote, not mine.)  The really odd thing is that they have seen this same thing 
on another cardinal across the river in the Forest Hill area.

  Any idea of what is causing this?

  Eunice C. Hudgins
  Salem, VA