I’ve been good about filling my bird feeder for the past few weeks, and happily I was rewarded with a visit from a cardinal friend who is pictured chomping on a sunflower seed. He had a female friend nearby, but she didn’t allow herself to be photographed.
While the cardinal was examining the food, a sparrow lounged below the bird feeder. He looks quite fat, does he not?
We get a lot of sparrows – usually, they are thinner than this one and come in little “packs” of sparrows. I’ve never seen a cardinal and sparrow hang out together, but maybe they both like my food.
When I tried to get closer to the cardinal, he flew into the trees and hid from my camera. It’s easier to photograph birds in late fall and winter, because the leaves have departed from the trees. We have filled quite a few leaf bags this fall.
I’m reading a book by David Sibley, Sibley’s Birding Basics and about bird identification, he writes:
Features like bill shape and wing shape are very consistent within species … one of the keys is to look past the brilliant colors and bold patterns of many marked birds and to look instead for details of things like face and wing pattern.
He writes this while showing a male and female cardinal in contrast to a summer tanager – while the reds of the tanager match the male cardinal, the male cardinal’s face matches that of his female companion.
For more nature notes:
I am impressed at how red the cardinal’s feathers are! A lovely series.
Wonderful shots of the cardinals and sparrow. I am seeing a lot of them now too.
so lovely Leora… I saw a gorgeous cardinal just the other day… didn’t have my camera, but I remember his scarlet feathers perfectly!
I love to see the Cardinals, they usually come around early in the morning or later in the day. Sometimes the Wt Sparrows come with them. Great shots.
I think they come when it’s colder here. It was unseasonably warm yesterday – no cardinals.
Oh cool, I love your window feeder!
Oh wonderful shots Leora..I would love to have more cardinals at my feeders.. House sparrows tend to stay in flocks whereas cardinals are alone or with a mate..They will look more puffed up with cold weather to help keep warm.. same principle as a down coat or blanket..Michelle
Ah, thanks for explaining the puffiness!
I love cardinals…your photos of them are lovely.
I love the chubby little sparrow…too cute.