The extremely rare tail-less variant of Agelaius phoeniceus

[Loupey]

Over the last three years of shooting birds, I've only seen a couple tail-less birds. Don't know if it is caused by predators, infection, or harassment, but the result is a goofy looking bird flying around.

This is a female red-winged blackbird. Seems one of the others that I saw tail-less before was also a blackbird.


Seeing a flying wing with a head makes you stop and take notice.

[cm_mtb]

i've seen one legged birds, but never one w/out a tail. sure looks odd!
does the lack of a tail cause them any flying problems?

[Loupey]

does the lack of a tail cause them any flying problems?

Surprisingly, no. At first I thought it was a wren with the tail cocked up where I couldn't see it.

One would think that, without a rudder, the bird would be flying out of control but those wings are good at compensating.

[SmartWombat]

Isn't this the unfortunate result of mite infestation in the nest?
I've seen several species of birds in my life with this problem, didn't seem to cause them issues in flying or landing, or feeding - they just compensated.

[Frog]

I think there's a predator around with a mouth full of feathers.

[sparkie1263]

I have a image of a tailless mocking bird.

Frank

[Loupey]

Thanks for looking guys.

SmartWombat - parasitic infestation was my first thought too but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of parasites anywhere else on the bird (especially the belly).

Frank - LOL that mockingbird looks even more goofy than the RWBB

[scott-devon]

Strange looking, I've never seen that before.

[paulnj]

Just molted tail feathers. Usually they don't molt all at once, but sometimes they do.

Feather mites are very common in nests, but don't usually cause such severe feather loss.