Snow bird
This guy insisted on posing. Already close when I saw him, he flew closer! Lots of other birds out as well (wrens, flickers, jays, juncos, sparrows, geese, ducks). I guess they were hungry after yesterday when it was too cold to be out and about.
Stopping by the water for her morning drink.
This guy's crest reminds me of one of the troll toys.
Lots of cardinals to choose from today, with none of them being shy. I guess they were celebrating that it wasn't so cold. 35F rather than 25F.
I visited Cedar Is. on the Potomac this morning. Only one cardinal! There's not much foot traffic, so he was kind of skittish (hence the long distance photo). There were lots of other things about once I stopped and listened: nuthatches by the dozen, a hawk, a heron, robins, ducks, sparrows and a killdeer that I heard but did not see.
It was a bit blustery today, enough to ruffle some feathers. But birds gotta be birds regardless of the weather.
It's cold. I'm tired. Leave me alone.
So nice of him to drop by for a backyard visit. He saved me a trip to the pond.
First bird I saw today! Too bad she startled and flew across the pond, so this shot is taken at distance.
I don't know why this guy is looking so gray. Other boys today looked the usual red. Maybe juvenile? Maybe just because his feathers are fluffed up?
Cardinals are crepuscular. This lady was foraging in the early evening light. The conclave held at least a dozen members, along with at least one white-throated sparrow.
I also saw this strange looking orange with furrowed brow and big nose.
How convenient: the CotD flitted through our garden, posing just long enough for a photograph.
Quite a bit of colour variation on this guy's wings. Not enough carrots?
Bird Watching Daily says:[1]
The dogwood tree grows bright red autumn berries – a favorite food of the Northern Cardinal and a source of red carotenoids. When the cardinal metabolizes dogwood berries, the carotenoid pigments are sequestered in the liver and then transported to the bloodstream for eventual deposit in growing feather follicles where they crystallize. Carotenoids are deposited only in the cortex, never in the feather core. Cardinals acquire orange, red, and yellow pigments from many seed sources, continuously keeping red plumes vibrant. A caged cardinal fed carotenoid-free seeds would lose its brilliance with successive molts.
[1] https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/birdwatching/where-feather-colors-come-from-why-cardinals-are-red-and-grackles-are-shiny/
Breakfast!
Male with crest lowered and wings spread. I'm not sure what crest height means. One paper (doi:10.1007/s10164-020-00659-x) reported this as "threatening behaviour", but they were citing a paper on owls for their interpretation. They also described "crest raised" as aggressive. They are apparently territorial and monogamous. It is coming on breeding season, so maybe there was another in the area that I didn't see. However, I've observed crests both raised and lowered when they are foraging, so I don't think I'm going to read too much into it.
This girl was really dark, almost brown on the back. Cameras lie about colour, so I'm not sure that I got it right. If only I could get the cardinal to hold up a gray card so I can correct for it.
No cardinals in the usual place near the local pond. I thought maybe it was too cold for them to get out of bed, but there were several hanging around at another favoured spot. There were several other birds around, including some black-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, a blue jay, and a red-bellied woodpecker.
Chirping along with the national anthem. This plays every morning at Walter Reed hospital.
Searching for an afternoon snack.
A range of cardinals to choose from today, and I went for perky. Another had the crest on the head completely flat. The females weren't staying put long enough to get a clean shot, so yet another male.
A bonus Cardi B, I finally got a glimpse of the painted bunting that's been hanging out at the C&O canal (4th try). It's in the cardinal family, but not a cardinal. Clearly a fool's errand since I don't have enough camera to capture it from across the canal.
I uploaded a short clip of it here:
Feeling safe in the thicket.
Another attempt at the painted bunting. Missed it by a few minutes according to an iNaturalist post. However, there were a few cardinals hanging about, plus a blue heron, a tufted titmouse and a downy woodpecker.
Went chasing the painted bunting today [1,2]. Hordes of people out, with lots of them claiming to see it. Between not wanting to get too close and foggy glasses from the mask I saw nothing :-(
I did however see a couple of dozen cardinals. Between cloud cover, distance and cheap camera, today's pair is the best I've got. I have one photo with five cardinals in it, but by the time I downsample to a reasonable image size the red dots don't look like much.
[1] www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/04/painted-bunting-bird-maryland-park
[2] ebird.org/species/paibun/L214293
Wet and rainy, so all the birds were hiding (except for a pair of very noisy jays). The shot that I got was 1/10 s at 800 iso, which is to say that there wasn't nearly enough light. Good enough to see that it is a cardinal at least. Here's hoping for better weather tomorrow.
Too much choice this morning. Despite the cold and the pair of hawks, the birds were happily chirping and perching openly in the trees. In addition to another male and a female, I also snapped a blue jay, a wren and a sparrow.
Cool and rainy morning, so it was nice to see a bit of colour. Thank you cardinals for not flying somewhere warm for the winter.
It was quiet this morning, unlike yesterday when the forest was atwitter with news of the red-tailed hawk sitting in the tree. I could hear this guy chirping but couldn't see him. Turns out he was right above me, and I had to "unzoom" the camera to fit him in frame.
Looking back at the old year and hoping for a better year to come.