I have yet to see this myself and I have a BUNCH of cardinals and blue jays. I do see the young “punk rocker” cardinals.

But the Internet says it’s true, this is molting not mites.

The only dark horror I witnessed was when a murder of crows came into the neighborhood and used my bird bath for their dark rituals for 2 weeks.

Maybe I didn’t see this kind of cardinal because they didn’t complete the rites to summon it?

OH NO GOBLIN in the streets, literal cat in the sheets.