Cardinal Fresh for Winter
Now that we've had some deep freezes, the red bird is ready for anything winter can throw at him...
At year’s end, the cardinal in my garden is in top form.
He has now replaced last summer's worn-out plumage with fresh, fluffy, new feathers to keep him warm and dry through the winter.
The cardinal has rather marvelous control over the feathers, thanks to muscles in its skin. But feathers wear out. They’re alive only while they’re growing. The blood supply that nourishes through the central shaft will shrink and disappear once the feather is complete. Then the feather is like our fingernails, necessary but not actually alive.
Worn-out clothes
As feathers wear out, they lose their loft, and the tiny connections between them erode away. A cardinal at the end of summer can be a real mess, his tail a shredded rag
This bird at my feeder has clearly gone all out for love and life. He’s held nothing back, and his feathers are totally used up.
In with the new
Once the feathers are wrecked, the bird must replace them. The process of losing the old feathers and growing new ones is called molting.
The timing of a bird's molt depends on what else is happening in the bird's life. It takes energy to grow new feathers. Most birds don't do it while migrating or nesting. They don’t have the extra energy. Many molt in late, after nesting and before migration.
Northern Cardinals don’t migrate, but they do need a new coat for winter. They get one as the weather grows cold. The cardinal at the top of the page has accomplished his molt.
Well done, red bird.
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5-Cardinals seem to gather (and rest?) in our 909 2nd St S back yard lately. A couple’ve been hanging in our tree and tie neighbor’s for several weeks.
LOVE the fluffy feathers. So cute. I did not know about the feathers and such. Do they not molt at certain times just by instinct? Very interesting. I’ll look at my cardinal more closely now.