I have a bald bird at my feeder. Is it sick?

We receive many inquiries about bald birds, especially Blue Jays and Northern Cardinals. In late summer and fall, when a bird molts, it usually grows and replaces its feathers gradually, but occasionally a bird loses all the feathers on its head at once. This is particularly true of Blue Jays, many of which molt the feathers of the head, or “capital tract,” in synchrony. The result is a very strange looking bald bird! This bald appearance lasts for about a week before new feathers replace the molted ones.

According to Project FeederWatch’s Unusual Birds page, “Many of these strange-looking birds may be juveniles undergoing their first prebasic molt, which produces the first winter adult plumage. For Blue Jays, this molt pattern is considered normal, and this molt pattern happens with enough frequency in Northern Cardinal populations to be considered within the normal range.”

It is possible that in rare cases baldness might be caused by environmental or nutritional factors, feather mites, or lice. For more, visit the Project FeederWatch Unusual Birds page or watch this YouTube playlist from our Bird Cams project, featuring several clips of bald Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, and other species molting their head feathers.