Blackbird with no feathers on its head!!!

[Hedgehoggy]

It looks like a severe mite infestation, poor thing Mites are easily treatable, but obviously catching the bird to get him treatment is another kettle of fish.

[Jason Green]

Poor thing, that does look painful.

It'll be a parasite as said. It also seems partially leucistic?

RE: Steaming birds... I think we had a photo posted last year showing a bird apparently steaming, caused by it's own heat and the colder, foggy morning air. Does anyone else remember this, or am I mistaken...

[Dee-Dee]

I'm in the Buckinghamshire area and we've noticed, over the past 3-years, that more and more blackbirds are displaying the symptoms as described in past comments.

We see an initial thinning of feathers around the head, followed by the bird becoming as bald as a cue ball, and then subsequently displaying a subdued, lethargic, almost stupified manner. For the past couple of years these symptoms were exclusively seen in the males, but since Dec 08 we've noticed a few females going bald, and over the past few months have seen a dramatic decrease in blackbird sightings.

I'm not sure why this ailment seems to have only struck down the blackbirds in our area, but it's a worrying affliction and one can only hope it's a temporary blight and not something that will affect the blackbird population in the long term - when you think of the thinning of owl shells and the long-term impact that's had on both the owls and the food chain.