Northern Cardinal Festival

the past few days I've had 3xs as many cardinals as I usually have, so I thought I'd share some pictures.

Pretty girl…

They are so pretty in the snow.

Showing the finches who is King of Color

I've been trying to get a good shot of this guy for a while. He's a bit washed out (color-wise).

Here's another.

Another lovely girl.

And another female.

Unfortunately, as a group, they like to show up about 30 minutes before sunset. Shooting conditions are tough.

Nice ones Mrs Ed! I love Cardinals.

Thanks Pelle! I thought Ms. Margaret might get a kick out of the snow!

You're right, Mrs Ed. I try to imagine what the snow feels like and what it must be like to be in weather that's so cold. I'd like to experience it - for about ten minutes! The Cardinals are spectacular birds and yeh, it's the stuff of Christmas cards, isn't it? Thanks for a lovely thread.

Mrs. Ed,

I have a pair of cardinals here but they only show up to feed very late in the day and usually at a time when I am not watching the birds. It is curious as all of the other birds seem to be around throughout the day. Is this typical of cardinals?

You know, I have no idea. I get a few cardinals through the day, but it seems to me that the big group likes to come late in the day. It might be an illusion though, because they are there later when all the others have left. I have a theory that they are filling up their gullets with seed for the night, but that's just guessing.

The Cardinals is one my favorites. I just don't see them at my place too often anymore though. So I can enjoy your pics of the Cards.

sacarvounis - In my experience, cardinals show up at my feeder at the crack of dawn and dusk. Beautiful shots mrs. ed. Makes me realize how special our climate is, and colorful with the brightly colored birds and black/white background. Thanks.

Here they are usually the first in the morning...though Juncos are early feeders too ...and the last in the evening. I have noticed tho that the colder it is, the more they come off and on thru out the day. I just commented on this to DH yesterday as it was very cold!

I love all of the beautiful pics, everyone. I am getting inspired to start shopping for a good camera. My digital is not good as the shutter has too much of a lag and the built-in zoom is poor. This will be yet another distraction from housework etc....but I don't care!

Yes, the bird watching forum is really the housework avoidance forum.

Ahhhhh...Mrs. Ed...LOL!!

I am so glad you have a thread just for Cardinals. When I can't seem to get a shot of anything else I can always depend on my Cardinals
Here's one who thinks he owns the feeder

Here's one of a little lady showing off her acrobatic ability

In this one it looks like she's turning her beak up at what's in the feeder and he's fussin' at her about something

One more and I'll give someone else a turn! In this one they are waiting patiently for me to get some fresh seed in the feeders! Hurry up lady!

Nice ones crazy. BTW, I think I have to steal your name now as I have soooo many sparrows in my yard that it's crazy!

Thanks Mrs. Ed! I quess we can have a crazybirdlady2!? I believe there's enough craziness to go around! ;))

We're all crazy!!

I can vouch for that

Ah, yes, the expert speaks!

Mrs. Ed, thanks for sharing the Cardinal pics. Cardinals are my favorites and I get a kick out of threads with tons of Caridnal pics! :)

Thanks,
Eric

No problem Eric. I have been so happy to see so many this winter. I'm had an all-time high the other day of 17!

I love cardinals and always have. I only have one pair around my backyard. But this morning the shy guy managed to stand still at the feeder long enough for me to take couple of pictures.

What a great thread, nothing better than cardinals for the holidays. Cardinals with snow, ice, red berries or holly are the ultimate coolness.

17 cardinals! You are so lucky. That is one of my dreams - a tree filled with cardinals. I collect cardinal ornaments because I would some day like to have an all cardinal Christmas tree.

Have any of you seen that Walgreens commercial where it talks about the place dreams are made of (or something silly like that) and they have a quick little animation of a spruce tree filled with dozens of male cardinals??? It is the coolest thing! Start paying attention to the Walgreens commercials and you are sure to see it! Am I a total nerd for noticing these things?

nay....I counted 30 the other evening at our house and I think I missed a few. We have way more females thans males I have noticed.

Same here! Just like humans. ^_^

I thought this was a neat shot of a cardinal couple.

Aww that is nice CB!

Well, I don't see too many up close since I no longer can feed the seed eating birds, but as you can see, when they are nesting, they do stoop to taking a few meal worms. This was back in April.

And I agree about how great they look in the snow.

Oh, I should add that these are from a couple of years ago. We haven't had significant snowfall here as yet this season.

Another shot. He looks so distinguished against the dark background.