The birds at my feeder look so scruffy...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Is it moulting season? Could they be suffering from the drought?

[billyskank]

1. Maybe they were out on the sauce last night.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. You think I shouldn't have laced the feeder with Tabasco?

:D

[bleedingheart]

2. perhaps you are serving a lower grade of bird food...

perhaps you need to upgrade or at least put Perrier in the bird bath...

:-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Perrier...

:spray:
There are tons of feeders in the neighborhood. Mine has black oil sunflower seed, dried berries, and nuts. And I put out suet, too. They love my feeder. :D

[bleedingheart]

5. Well how about some ambience....perhaps some nice chimes..

or perhaps some fresh produce...plant some coneflowers, black-eyed susans and some other stuff...that way the "organic" birds can get some exercise while the scruffy middle income birds can just go for the paydirt at your feeder....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. I need to get my yard back in shape.

I've been reluctant to do anything with the drought. I want to plant black-eye susans and some nice orange daylilies, as they're fairly shade-tolerant.

[bleedingheart]

11. well you will be glad to know that the black-eyed susans seem

to tolerate drought better...

I whole heartedly recommend going to your extension office to find out what your local birds like to eat...then plant that for next year...and remember Fall is a great time to get perennials cheap...

I hope your drought ends soon....
meanwhile here in PA..we have a drought warning even though we keep getting rain....but most of it runs off...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. We're supposed to have "scattered showers" tomorrow...

But I'm not counting on being in part of the scattering zone.

[stuntcat]

6. mine too!

I've fed them for years so I see a lot of them every day, and this Summer I've seen birds missing a lot of feathers, a couple were totally bald. We're having an awful drought in Northern VA lately but I think I first saw the bald birds before it got quite this dry.

I haven't seen or heard it mentioned anywhere else.

[bleedingheart]

7. that sounds scary...

I have finches in my yard...they are lovely...as well as hummingbirds that visit...but I don't have feeders...they just eat the stuff I have in my gardens...

however none look sickly...as you or GOG have described..

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Maybe I'll call up the Audubon Society tomorrow...

We've got a leaky outside faucet. I haven't fixed it...I've kept it on a fairly slow drip, so the birds can get a little shower.

[stuntcat]

31. if you learn any more about them,

let me know.
The birds don't act different, I mean the ones who look normal hang out with the funny-looking ones just the same as always. I hope it's nothing bad.

[pitohui]

34. are the bald birds cardinals ("redbirds")?

this is a pretty common disease, can't recall what causes it, but they usually get over it and grow out again

[stuntcat]

40. actually

Most of them are.. now that I think of it.
I don't remember thinking of what kinds of birds were mostly bald :( (my memory's bad anyway) But I don't think I saw bald sparrows or bluebirds, or robins. I hope that's it then!

[stuntcat]

50. no wait..

There's a diseased-looking dove out there right now. And I'm pretty sure I saw bluebirds going bald too.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Try polishing them

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. What sort of polish should I use?

I guess turtle wax is out...

[EstimatedProphet]

22. Here ya go

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. ...

:spray:
I'd forgotten about that stuff! But won't it make them flightless?

[EstimatedProphet]

48. Yeah, but they'll have kiwifruit-flavored eggs!

[trof]

13. Maybe they need a spa week-end?

That would be nice.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. If there's water involved

they'd love it!

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. You're in a bad part of town. Careful they don't swipe your purse someday.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. With my luck they'd

steal my identity, too.

[skygazer]

17. Probably a gang

Do they wear leather jackets?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. feather jackets?

Why yes! :scared:

[Wetzelbill]

26. I think they call themselves "The Christ Punchers" nt

[XemaSab]

20. Some birds do molt before migration

Might be that. :shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. Many of the cardinals and blue jays are missing head feathers

and look as if they need a good preening.

[TZ]

25. Some of them may be sick, sadly..

Especially the Blue Jays. I know you live near me and this area has a pretty big problem with West Nile, this time of year seems to be the worst. The corvids- Jays and Crows suffer the worst from it. Did you know the crow population in the Washington DC area has been severly depleted by West Nile? I know there were a few too many not too long ago but it seems to be swinging the other way now...:(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. I knew about West Nile; but

I wasn't sure what the symptoms were. This year we've seen a fraction of the mosquitos we've had in years past. I was hoping West Nile would be less prevalent, too... :(

[XemaSab]

28. That might be a fungus

You might wish to shut down operations for a while and give everything a good bleach scrub. :P

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. Ohh...Thanks for telling me!

I'll do that!

[Arkansas Granny]

30. I've noticed that in birds at my feeder during late summer on

several occasions. I think they must be molting.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. I hope you're right!

:hi:

[In_The_Wind]

23. That's too bad.

[Bravo Zulu]

24. the ruby throat

that stops at my feeder in the morning and again in the evening, he looks well groomed!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. What a great pic!

I've never seen hummingbirds perched like that!

[Lex]

27. Ours do too. They have been coming to the birdbath and

playing in the sprinkler (the few minutes that I turn it on my small veggie garden).

Tonight there were around 15 birds playing in the sprinkler. Best time is right before it gets dark so the water has a chance to soak in and not evaporate right out due to the sun. The birds are crazy for it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

42. I'll bet they love it!

We don't have a sprinkler. I let the hose do a slow drip on a different azalea each day. I really hope we get some of those showers soon!

[triguy46]

29. Sounds like a neighborhood in transition.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. Well there IS a little wren who gives me hell when the feeders are empty!

:D

[pitohui]

32. post breeding molt probably

also the younger ones haven't gotten their full adult plumage yet so they may also look a little ratty and spotty

our young mockingbirds are only now losing their "spots"

[GoddessOfGuinness]

44. We have a number of young robins that still have spots.

I've seen some young cardinals begging food from their parents, even though they're almost adult-sized.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.0
==================



This week is our third quarter 2007 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend on donations
from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for your support.

[billyoc]

39. Obviously they're zombies.

For real, you're screwn.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

45. Zombies?!

:scared:

[Reciprocity]

41. The molt is triggered by shorter days.

At least it is in my poultry. Molting is a result from the growth of the incoming feather pushing out the old feather. The thyroid hormone thyroxin stimulates the growth of new feathers and the sexual glands control the overall molt, which is triggered by environmental factors such as daylight. Some of my girls have already gone through the molt others are just starting. Feathers are made up of primarily proteins. So I add cat food to mix at this time of year.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. That's interesting...

I'm glad I've got the suet out there. :hi:

[sarge43]

49. Fall moult or

juvies starting their adult moult or need some bathing water or they'll just naturally scruffy.