Northern Cardinal – Cardinalis cardinalis

One of my favorite backyard visitors are the cardinals. We were pelted with snow this winter and I spent endless hours sitting in my kitchen waiting for a cardinal to sit in the bow of our cedar trees to pose for a striking picture. Well, the little bugger never came or came when I was far away from a camera. I have hopes that we will have a snowy winter again this year to try to get the perfect shot.

One of the things I love most about the cardinal is it’s song. When I am gardening in the spring, one of the local pairs come and feast on the seeds in the feeder and almost ignore me. Then, the male will thank me for the food with its beautiful song.

I was not aware that male cardinals will feed females seeds during their courtship. Awww, how sweet. He took her out to dinner. What a gentleman.