I saw a completely tail-less male N Cardinal at my feeders this morning.  He also had a tuft of feathers that seem to have been disturbed near where his tail would have been.  He seemed fine otherwise and was able to fly.  But he looked so odd!  I found an article that refers to "fright, stress or shock molt" as a defense when birds are attacked.  Has anyone else seen or heard about this phenomen?   Here's the link to the article:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/apr/26/frightened-cardinal-sacrifices-tail-abandons/
 
Suellen Fortine
Maineville                                        
______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]