<p>I have a bird at my feeder and I don’t know what it is. It looks like a cardinal but it has a black head (no pointy crown either) and a yellow beak. My husband thinks it’s tail feathers are longer then a cardinals as well. It doesn’t appear to have a mate. Could it be a juvenile cardinal? It’s size is full grown. I saw it at my feeder three times today but it could have been coming often because at first glance it looks like a cardinal.</p>
<p>Blackheaded or Rose-breasted Grosbeak (it’s in the Cardinal family.) Lots of these have been hybridized, so sometimes it is impossible to know precisely which kind, either by coloration or range.</p>
<p>Pretty good for cityslicker, ay?</p>
<p><a href=“http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/205/_/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak.aspx[/url]”>http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/205/_/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak.aspx</a></p>
<p>Another possibility, though unlikely, is deeply colored northern Oriole.</p>
<p>I’d say a male Northern Cardinal. Some of them lose their crest feathers.</p>
<p><a href=“Birdzilla.com - Wild About Wild Birds”>Birdzilla.com - Wild About Wild Birds;
<p>Nope, not a grosbeak - not a bit of white on it or black on the wings and I don’t really think it’s a cardinal. It had a blackish head. Not an oriole either - this guy is RED. </p>
<p>Picture a male cardinal with a yellow beak and blackish head. The wings we’re somehow strange too. We just watched the Parrots of Telegraph hill the other night so that got me to thinking that maybe it’s an escaped tropical bird.</p>
<p>mini - the site you linked is one of the aps for my iphone and the place I first looked for an id. pretty cool ap - I thought for sure it would have my bird on it.</p>
<p>kathiep, does it definitely have feathers on its head? Cardinals sometimes lose ALL their head feathers, which gives them a very strange appearance! Their heads will look dark in that case. (They are really ugly with no head feathers!)</p>
<p>That doesn’t account for the color of the beak, however. </p>
<p>Any chance you can get a picture of this bird?</p>
<p>I had my iphone out but couldn’t get close enough. Our regular camera was stolen a few weeks ago. Hmm, maybe the head feathers were missing but the color looked that greenish-black, not really ugly. Both of us noticed the yellow beak. I just refilled two of my feeders and am waiting hopefully for a re-visit.</p>
<p>I have many (many, many) cardinals at all of my feeders, year round. Recently the young ones have been showing up. As always, the youngsters look very ratty in a variety of ways. Coincidentally, two days ago is the first time I noticed one with a completely black head. I was curious about it myself, but since it was hanging out with young cardinals, I assumed it was just another immature male.</p>
<p>Another guess that it is a male cardinal molting his head feathers - especially considering your location and the time of year. </p>
<p>[Cardinal</a> Birdchick](<a href=“http://www.birdchick.com/wp/category/cardinal/]Cardinal”>http://www.birdchick.com/wp/category/cardinal/)</p>
<p>I have to agree that it sounds like a bald cardinal.</p>
<p><a href=“http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TAP/1017.jpg[/url]”>http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TAP/1017.jpg</a></p>
![http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TAP/1017.jpg[/url]](http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TAP/1017.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>The yellow beak still screams hybridized grosbeak to me.</p>
<p>(American robins can have yellow beaks. But shaped like a cardinal, I doubt.)</p>
<p>Wow! I had no idea that cardinals molted like that - that’s one ugly bird! Still doesn’t explain the yellow beak, but maybe we were wrong about that. Mini, It couldn’t be a grosbeak, it was cardinal red all over except for the head. I’ll be keeping a look out for another sighting! Lots of birds at the feeders this morning.</p>
<p>Oh, okay. I hadn’t understood that. Maybe some bird that took a shower from a hummingbird feeder?</p>
<p>Okay. This is my passion. Have to know more about the bird.</p>
<p>Can you give me as detailed a description as possible, belly color, wing color, tail color, head and chest color?</p>
<p>First thought is one of the tanangers.</p>
<p>There is an excellent bird book, while I used for ornithology class at UMiami, still use it 30 years later.</p>
<p>A Field Guide to the Birds, East of the Rockies, Roger Tory Peterson. </p>
<p>I’ll quote from it:</p>
<p>Summer Tananger
Male: rose-red all over, yellowish bill, no crest. Female: olive above, deep yellow below
Young males acquiring adult plumage may be patched with red and green.</p>
<p>Similar species:</p>
<p>Male cardinal has a crest, black face
Male scarlet tananger has black wings and tail; female has darker wings
Female orioles have wing bars</p>
<p>Scarlet Tananger
Male: Flaming scarlet, with jet black wings and tail, Female, immature and winter male: dull greenish above, yellowish below, with dark brownish or blackish wings.</p>
<p>Similar species:</p>
<p>Male summer tananger
Male cardinal (crested) are all-red, lack black in wings and tail
Female summer tananger is deeper yellow, wings are not as dusky</p>
<p>There is also an orange variant to the scarlet tananger.</p>
<p>I am dying to hear more about this bird!</p>
<p>Also check on the size of the bird. </p>
<p>Tanangers are 7 to 7 1/2 inches long. Cardinals are 7 1/2 to 9 inches long.</p>
<p>This probably includes tail length.</p>
<p>Got to go to Harry Potter.</p>
<p>Keep us posted!</p>
<p>Have fun birding!</p>
<p>I agree it sounds like a bald cardinal but then I also agree with mini that if the beak is yellow and not orangey, it’s weird.
Pics of a bald cardinal.
[Lizard-Head</a> (Northern Cardinal With Head Mites)](<a href=“http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030701.html]Lizard-Head”>Lizard-Head (Northern Cardinal With Head Mites))</p>
<p>But look at this, a relative of the cardinal which has a yellow beak, though the body is not red:
[Pyrrhuloxia</a>, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology](<a href=“http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pyrrhuloxia/id]Pyrrhuloxia”>Pyrrhuloxia Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)</p>
<p>Could it be a hybrid? Are you in the southwest?
Oh just noticed you are in Pennsylvannia…the mystery deepens</p>
<p>kathiep, sometimes cardinals will have lighter beaks, more orange than red. Perhaps in contrast to the other colors on the bird (the black head and red feathers) and in good light, the beak looked yellowish. </p>
<p>Montegut, what are the chances of a tanager coming several times to a feeder that attracts cardinals? I think it’s unlikely that this bird is a tanager (darn it! They’re such cool birds!); I’ve never had a tanager at a seed feeder.</p>
<p>Summer Tanager looks right, but aren’t they more southern?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.windowsonnature.com/Nature_Pages/Nature_Map/Pages/UplandBirds/images/BD_Tanager_Summer.jpg[/url]”>http://www.windowsonnature.com/Nature_Pages/Nature_Map/Pages/UplandBirds/images/BD_Tanager_Summer.jpg</a></p>
![http://www.windowsonnature.com/Nature_Pages/Nature_Map/Pages/UplandBirds/images/BD_Tanager_Summer.jpg[/url]](http://www.windowsonnature.com/Nature_Pages/Nature_Map/Pages/UplandBirds/images/BD_Tanager_Summer.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>So now that I’ve got the attention of all the birdfeeders:</p>
<p>I live in an almost parklike setting, with lots of douglas firs around the house, and a giant mimosa. Raspberries, blackberries, currants, cherry trees and a peach tree. I have a bunch of feeders (hanging from house), with different effects.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No matter the type of feeder - I’ve got a big tube, an octagonal house, and a platform - NO ONE will eat any sunflower seed. Doesn’t matter whether it is black oil, black stripe, white, or hearts. If I put it all in one feeder, everyone avoids it (actually, I’ve never had a single bird come to the tube feeder). If there is sunflower seed mixed in with other seed, all the birds toss it out. Is that weird, or am I doing something wrong?</p></li>
<li><p>No one eats red millet.</p></li>
<li><p>I know there are goldfinches and house finches and purple finches in the neighborhood, but I haven’t been able to attract a single one. Any tricks? (I’ve got tons of juncos, some sparrows, an occasional magpie…</p></li>
<li><p>I have three hummingbird feeders, each with the same food in it. The hummingbirds love the hour-glass shaped feeder. They will occasional go to the global shaped feeder. None will go near the tube feeder. One thing I did notice is that the hour-glass feeder has places where the hummingbirds can sit.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Help a cityslicker!</p>
<p>^^^I have a large number of ruby-throated hummingbirds. They arrive on April 10th and depart on Oct. 10 as if they can read a calendar. They visit all four of the feeders regularly, fighting each other and chasing each other away all the while (sorry, mini, no pacifists among these hummingbirds). I don’t know why there are multiple perches on most feeders, because it is very rare to find more than one using the feeder at the same time. Nonetheless, they do seem to prefer the three feeders that have perches, but they also use the flat circular version without perches sometimes. For food, I just boil water and sugar (approx 4 parts water, one part sugar or slightly more dilute); no food coloring needed. Perhaps your h-birds don’t like the location of your tube feeder?</p>
<p>Sunflower seeds: black oil (all by itself) is popular here with cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, finches, juncos.</p>
<p>Probably the most popular feeder, in terms of bird variety, is a long tube feeder with a blend that includes tree nuts. Indigo buntings, three types of woodpeckers, cardinals, finches, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, juncos, nuthatches, bluejays, lots of variety there. (The squirrels would love it too, which is why it is in a tube feeder that closes if something heavy lands on the perch.)</p>
<p>Millet: The birds toss it, and iit all lands on the ground and sprouts. I don’t know why it is any of the mixes.</p>
<p>Finches: You might want to try thistle (Nijer? I see it spelled various ways). It requires a special feeder with very narrow slits. Unfortunately, it tends to go bad very quickly, so a lot of it gets wasted. I get finches at the feeders with black oil sunflower, safflower seed, mixed seed and–this is weird–the hummingbird feeders.</p>
<p>In general, it takes a while for birds to discover a feeder or decide they like it. Patience is needed.</p>
<p>I’ve actually rotated the hummingbird feeders from place to place, and the birds seem to follow the type of feeder, rather than the location.</p>
<p>It is the sunflower seed that has me completely stumped. 85% of the birds I’ve got are juncos. They go through all the seed, toss all the sunflower on the ground, and eat the millet.</p>