Our Northern Cardinal

Did you read that and think “Our?”

Well, if you did, that wasn’t a typo.  It was because this little guy feels like he’s “ours” because he seems to have claimed us.  For the longest time he was downright ornery about being photographed.  He would prance and prance about until I went to get the camera, then he would fly… every. single. time.

Now, we have apparently successfully “bought” his tolerance with enough sunflower seed, that he now allows photos.  Either that, or he now realizes my camera is not some predator about to eat him.  😉

Regardless, he now allows me to take his photo without flying off, most of the time.

~

~

See him eyeballing me, while I take his photo.  LOL

He has quite a bit of attitude.  He likes to come and fuss loudly at our window if there isn’t any seed.

~ ~ ~

Cardinals in love

This pair of cardinals were so sweet.  The male kept going and getting sunflower seeds and feeding her.  It was really cute.

~

He kept this up for probably 20 minutes or more.  It was fun to watch, but they weren’t fond of me photographing them through the window.  Especially the female.  Here she is looking at me like, “I see you up there.”

~

Here he is looking down at her:

~

Feeding her again:

~ ~ ~

A pair of cardinals

This mating pair were so cute.  The male was working so hard at impressing her.  They fluttered around all over together, eventually coming in for a meal.  I was nice to be able to photograph a male and female together in the same shot.  Northern Cardinals tend to be fairly camera-shy, so it’s not a frequent opportunity.

~ ~ ~

Female Northern Cardinal

This female Northern Cardinal was funny.  She kept fussing at me for standing in my own yard.  So I kept taking her picture.  LOL  🙂

~

I thought something about her wings looked off.  I can’t tell if she is missing long feathers, or she’s holding her wings funny or what.  But it just didn’t look right.   But she seemed to fly just fine.

~ ~ ~

Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, and Finches in the rain

It’s not often that I see a Cardinal come into this feeder.  I see them around a lot, but not at the feeder.  But on this rainy day he decided to compete with the titmouse and the finches for some sunflower seeds.

~ ~ ~

a very small Cardinal

Finally my last post from the photos I took on September 28th.  I saved my favorite for last.  The reason this was my favorite is because it’s something I have never seen before.

Perhaps someone who knows more about birds than I do, might have some insight into this one.  But I saw a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in color like a full grown adult male.  But it was at least 1/3 the size of an adult male cardinal.  Now I’m admittedly not an expert.  But even literature that I’ve found says that young cardinals are not this red yet.  I personally do not recall ever seeing a young one that was already full red.  I wish there was something in these photos and videos that would make it easier for someone watching to determine size.  Because these pictures and videos give the appearance of him being larger than he was.  But this bird was very very small for a cardinal.

I’m curious if he is young and became red early, or if he is adult and very small.  I am leaning toward young and red early, simply because he tolerated human presence more than adult cardinals generally seem to do.  But that is just a guess.

So here are some photos and video clips I took of the little guy, while he ate seeds and things in the brush.  First the photos:

~

~

~

~

And now for the videos:

~

I hope you enjoyed these.
And remember all of my nature videos can be found on the Nature Blog YouTube Channel.

~ ~ ~