They stand out like Christmas ornaments in the holly trees.
Above are at least six cardinals with a few house finch thrown in for good measure.
This female above is missing her tail feathers (to a hawk perhaps). She seems to be well-balanced in spite of that and will have those feather grow back eventually.
Above is a young male just coming into his own for the mating season.
This female, taken at a great distance, also seems to have had an encounter with a predator. I hope she makes it through the winter! Happy Valentine's Day to you all.
Glorious creatures all!
ReplyDeleteI love the cardinals. the males will feed the females when courting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful birds. I often wonder, what Darwin advantage allowed so many birds to thrive with such wonderful colors, clearly not camouflage. I'm glad the colors seem to work to their and our advantage.
ReplyDeleteI love Google!
ReplyDeleteBird plumage colors are a result of either pigment or from the light reflecting off feathers. ... The color we see is the light reflecting off their brown feathers. Fortunately for the birds, some predators do not see the same bright-blue reflections as we do. So they remain protected.
http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/true-colors-decoding-bird-plumage/
I knew this...but you beat me to it! Cornell is an excellent website on birds as well.
DeleteSuperb images of the Cardinals. Both of them, female and male are pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine's Day!
the male cardinal is a very showy bird. we don't have them here.
ReplyDeleteOh, so pretty. We don't have cardinals.
ReplyDeleteThey are so pretty, and often so shy. When Ms. G feeds the birds, it's the cardinals, she claims, that need it the most but hang back and get the least.
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines day to both of you. Those birds are so very stunning. We have blue Jays and scrub Jays, but no Cardinals here...darn it.
ReplyDelete