Pretty cool - a male northern cardinal. Although the pictures from around 5:45 PM seem to show snow on the branches, it was really just a very gray late afternoon, and shot through a back window. I first took two pictures with the camera on my samsung phone, but I think the focus was thrown off by the window. These are with our panasonic dmc ZS25 (camera is a couple of years old).
I quizzed Brigid on what she knew about cardinals - much more than I knew before I looked them up on wikipedia. She knew only the male was red - the female (quoting Brigid) "Is one of my favorite birds. A darker color with hints of brown and hints of coral." Like describing wine!? They do not migrate seasonally and they mate for life - which Brigid also knew - "I've seen them together and seen them feed each other." Quite the birdwatcher. (See the quiz after the pictures.)
The first three pictures were taken at maximum 12X zoom, with no further cropping.
He's checking out the area.
This is the last one - at I think about 4X zoom, gives some idea of where I was shooting from.
Quiz: The answer is at the end of the wikipedia article - link posted above. In how many states is the cardinal the state bird? And here's a "who is buried in Grant's tomb" type question: In what state did the cardinal lose out as being the state bird to the Delaware Blue Hen ?
I probably don't know as much about Cardinals as Brigid does, but I do know that they usually get their red hats from the Pope !
Posted by: Sweat | Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 12:11 PM