Opinions please (Cardinalis cardinalis)

I first saw this female Northern Cardinal at the beginning of August. At that time I thought that she would surely die within a few days, if not hours. However, she is still around, eating well and behaving normally. I would like your opinions as to whether you think she has been attacked by other birds due to her broken leg, or is it a mite problem that has taken away her head feathers? I clean and disinfect
my feeders regularly. I feel very sad for her and don't know if she is suffering or not. Your opinions would be helpful.

Oh dear, she does look in a sorry state doesn't she. Maybe she has mites?

This is a pure guess, but it's the molting time of year and that puts a great physiological strain on a bird. The broken leg has probably added to the strain and maybe the bird hasn't got the energy left to grow new feathers properly. Maybe it will manage it in the end, maybe not.

Poor thing. At least she is eating well. That's probably a good sign. Nature will take its course I guess.

Poor girl. She is lucky to have such a good source of food though. It is possible the leg can heal, you might even want to put some calcium supplement in a birdbath or something for her, to help the healing process.

I believe the bald head is due to mites. We have (in Michigan) seen a cardinal and a bluejay so far (in the past year) that looks exactly like this one. They seem to disappear so I am thinking the feathers finally do grow back on most of them.