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In my garden yesterday
Northern Cardinal
Size & Shape
The Northern Cardinal is a fairly large, long-tailed songbird with a short, very thick bill and a prominent crest. Cardinals often sit with a hunched-over posture and with the tail pointed straight down.
Color Pattern
Male cardinals are brilliant red all over, with a reddish bill and black face immediately around the bill. Females are pale brown overall with warm reddish tinges in the wings, tail, and crest. They have the same black face and red-orange bill.
Behavior
Northern Cardinals tend to sit low in shrubs and trees or forage on or near the ground, often in pairs. They are common at bird feeders but may be inconspicuous away from them, at least until you learn their loud, metallic chip note.
Habitat
Look for Northern Cardinals in inhabited areas such as backyards, parks, woodlots, and shrubby forest edges. Northern Cardinals nest in dense tangles of shrubs and vines.
Comments
Great close up Kate. A fave!
Hi Steve thanks so much, I just happened to look through the kitchen window last nigh, I was hoping it would stay long enough for me to grab the camera, as you can see our snow was very slight:))
– Kate Adams
wow, instant favor, do you feed them?
Thanks so much Luda, yes I do feed them and sometimes there are many of them but yesterday only one, I have just purchased a 500mm lens but I never got chance to use it, I will try tomorrow:))
– Kate Adams
Beautiful capture! Great write up too!
Many thanks my friend, I was so lucky with this one, he didn’t fly when I went to get the camera, his girlfriend was on the branch below but it was one or the other and he was so beautiful:))
– Kate Adams
Kate Kate Kate where was this baby when I was making the book wow what a wonderful image! Sitting in your back yard right?
Well I will have to come up with something for the next book for this sweet little thing.
I hope you had a wonderful christmas.
Hi David! thank you so much, he was a showy little thing and it was a lucky shot on my part – I hope you had a fabulous Christmas – you will definitely have to come up with another book for next year lol:))
– Kate Adams
Fantastic capture, Kate. Did you use your new lens?
Thanks so much D and for the fave, not the new lens yet, the weather hasn’t co-operated with the haze from the snow and it is so cold to set the tripod up outside and we have had so much rain for two days, hopefully in the next couple of days:))
– Kate Adams
I know, the males are much prettier than the females!!!
Fabulous capture!!
Thank you so much for the lovely comments Kathleen and the fave, so happy you enjoyed it:))
– Kate Adams
congrats on your purchase, what lenses did you use here?
I used the Nikon 18-200mm lens for this shot Luda.
– Kate Adams
Awesome, Kate! A fave!
Hi Vadim, I hope you have had a wonderful day today – thanks you so much for the great comments:))
– Kate Adams
Gorgeous capture
Thank you Martina and for the fave, so happy you liked it:))
– Kate Adams