My beautiful cardinal boy just showed up at the pond. His tail is gone! He flew off but didnt catch as much air as normal. I will worry about him until I see that tail back. I wonder if he was chased by the hawk who lives out there and maybe caught his tail instead. Im so happy he got away!

Whew! That was close! Poor guy.

Birds can drop their tails as a fear release, maybe he dropped it out of a fear response to something.