Earlier this week, I posted some pictures of my Momma cardinal at the feeding station and looking a bit rough. Today I wanted to show you how Poppa is doing. She and Poppa raised three clutches this summer and are now in the process of molting from their summer, breeding plumage to their winter, nonbreeding plumage. Between the stresses of raising that many babies and the molting, both birds are somewhat tattered looking. With cardinals, both parents play a very active role in building a nest, sitting on the eggs, feeding the young, and teaching the fledglings to care for themselves. It’s a tremendous energy drain, and both parents pluck feathers to line the nest, so it’s not surprising that now they look a little worn out. They are actually already starting to look a little better. As of the time I photographed Momma, last week, both were missing feathers all over and they had almost no crests at all. As you can see, Poppa’s crest is almost full and many of his body feathers have grown back. His neck is still pretty patchy and he still has some bald spots on his chest, but they’re both improving almost every day. As I’ve said before, I get so much enjoyment out of watching them and watching them bring each new brood as they teach them to survive.