{"id":21392,"date":"2014-07-31T00:20:56","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T23:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/?p=21392"},"modified":"2014-07-31T00:20:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T23:20:56","slug":"untidy-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/untidy-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Untidy Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s not all that uncommon to come across a bird that has lost some of its facial or head plumage (I posted a similar shot<\/a> a few years ago), but it was slightly bizarre to see two bald birds within a few minutes of each other.<\/p>\n

The first one was a blackbird. I suspect it’s a juvenile (rather than a female). The second blackbird (in the background of the first shot) was entirely normal.<\/p>\n

\"Blackbird<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Blackbird<\/a><\/p>\n

The second was a great tit, looking extremely tatty. If you look closely you can see most of the facial feathers are missing.<\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s difficult to identify a cause in single sightings. One possibility is a slightly erratic moult, which is certainly feasible at this time of year. Mites or ticks can also cause baldness, though ticks are usually visible. Generally the feathers will re-grow in a few weeks, so the condition is likely to be temporary.<\/p>\n

Thankfully not all the birds were in quite such an unkempt state, though this young thrush was having some difficulty clearing away some webbing that had become attached to it.<\/p>\n

\"Thrush<\/a><\/p>\n

It took a juvenile blue tit to provide a decent photo of a tidy bird. Seems late in the season, but there it was.<\/p>\n

\"blue<\/a><\/p>\n

At least the herring gulls were behaving impeccably as they marched out of the pond and on to the sandy bank.<\/p>\n

\"marching<\/a><\/p>\n

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not all that uncommon to come across a bird that has lost some of its facial or head plumage (I posted a similar shot a few years ago), but it was slightly bizarre to see two bald birds within a few minutes of each other. The first one was a blackbird. I suspect it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[980,989],"tags":[1090,51,45,57,1158,55],"class_list":["post-21392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds-2","category-water-birds-birds-2","tag-bald","tag-blackbird","tag-blue-tit","tag-great-tit","tag-herring-gull","tag-thrush","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t