However, for reasons unknown, now and then an individual cardinal will molt by losing all the feathers on its head at once. That bird is then bald and of course lacks the crest of feathers.

By contrast, this cardinal appears dull and disheveled ... For birds to survive, feathers need to be replaced. But although all birds molt, the individual strategies are as widely varied as ...

"Guess what most birds do after the nesting season? They shed their feathers and grow new ones. This molting process occasionally produces a bald headed cardinal when a bird loses all its head ...

Or perhaps the chemicals make molting easier ... Once upon a time, the northern cardinal was mainly a southern bird. In the 1880s, people rarely spotted them north of the Ohio River.

It's a northern cardinal with little-to-no feathers ... which is why now would be the time for them to molt. These viewer-submitted bird photos keep our segment interesting! Coming up next week ...

Experts say the birds haven’t gone anywhere; they’re just in hiding. August is the peak molting time for songbirds. It’s the period when they shed worn and ragged feathers and grow beautiful ...

Both raising young and molting are major drains on a bird's energy budget ... a blue jay snatching a peanut or a brilliant cardinal perched on a snowy branch, you might offer a salute to valiant ...