Help with bird ID: I saw this bird one time and missed a chance to get a photo. I was too close to the patio door and when I moved it did, too. Here are a couple of photos I got the...

One Jughead Loc: Greene County, OH

I saw this bird one time and missed a chance to get a photo. I was too close to the patio door and when I moved it did, too.
Here are a couple of photos I got the second time I saw it. Taken from 18-20 feet and through the patio door glass.

I have looked on the web and not found any like it. Let me know if you can ID it for me.

Thanks,
Bruce

(Download)

Keldon Loc: Yukon, B.C.

Male Cardinal.

One Jughead Loc: Greene County, OH

Where is the crown? Face is dark?

PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

We went through every bird book we have and we are pretty sure it is a male cardinal with his crest retracted. The other similar sized bird looks like a female cardinal. The beak is the giveaway. Hope this helps.

PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

My wife googled 'northern cardinal bird', and found several photos of cardinals with the crest retracted.

ShopGirl

Yup. Cardinals. Male and female. They come to the bird feeder right outside our window everyday; they often retract their crests.

fosgood11 Loc: oil city, La.

cardinal

One Jughead wrote:

I saw this bird one time and missed a chance to get a photo. I was too close to the patio door and when I moved it did, too.
Here are a couple of photos I got the second time I saw it. Taken from 18-20 feet and through the patio door glass.

I have looked on the web and not found any like it. Let me know if you can ID it for me.

Thanks,
Bruce

One Jughead Loc: Greene County, OH

PhotoPhred wrote:

We went through every bird book we have and we are pretty sure it is a male cardinal with his crest retracted. The other similar sized bird looks like a female cardinal. The beak is the giveaway. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all of the responses by everyone.

I looked up molting northern cardinal bird on the web. Looked at Wild Birds Unlimited site and if they are molting they can lose all of their head feathers as this one appears to have done. There isn't any feathers at all on the head, so the crest isn't there to be retracted. The skin color of the cardinal is dark, so that is what is showing. I also went to the images tab and saw pictures like this of the cardinal. This is the first year I have seen one that I can remember.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

One Jughead wrote:

I saw this bird one time and missed a chance to get a photo. I was too close to the patio door and when I moved it did, too.
Here are a couple of photos I got the second time I saw it. Taken from 18-20 feet and through the patio door glass.

I have looked on the web and not found any like it. Let me know if you can ID it for me.

Thanks,
Bruce

Definitely a male cardinal and in the second photo you can see the female in the background.