The balding Northern Cardinal continues to lose small head feathers:

The top of his black mask has lost some feathers near the middle:

The poor critter looks a bit like a vulture now:

These are tight crops from DSC-H5 images: 12X zoom with the 1.7 tele extender, taken from about 30 feet away, just before dusk. Turning off the focus assist LED let me stick the big lens out of the kitchen door, brace the affair on the door frame, and click away.