Cardinals

Look, I Found Your Business…. It Was All Up In Mine Again!

January 30, 2023 — 10 Comments

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 320.

Northern Cardinal ( Female )

How do you make a lemon drop?

Just let it fall.

Interesting Fact: Northern Cardinals eat mainly seeds and fruit, supplementing these with insects (and feeding nestlings mostly insects). Common fruits and seeds include dogwood, wild grape, buckwheat, grasses, sedges, mulberry, hackberry, blackberry, sumac, tulip-tree, and corn. Cardinals eat many kinds of birdseed, particularly black oil sunflower seed. They also eat beetles, crickets, katydids, leafhoppers, cicadas, flies, centipedes, spiders, butterflies, and moths. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

Baby It’s Cold Outside!

December 26, 2022 — 8 Comments

F/8.0,1/250, ISO 400.

Northern Cardinal Male 

Why did Scrooge keep a pet lamb?

Because it would say, “Baaaaahh humbug!”

Interesting Fact: Look for Northern Cardinals in dense shrubby areas such as forest edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows, backyards, marshy thickets, mesquite, regrowing forest, and ornamental landscaping. Cardinals nest in dense foliage and look for conspicuous, fairly high perches for singing. Growth of towns and suburbs across eastern North America has helped the cardinal expand its range northward. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

 

 

 

Red Mean Stop And Admire!

February 20, 2022 — 29 Comments

F/6.3, 1/125, ISO 1000.

Northern Cardinal ( Male )

Did you hear the joke about the roof?

Never mind, it’s over your head!

Interesting Fact: Males sometimes bring nest material to the female, who does most of the building. She crushes twigs with her beak until they’re pliable, then turns in the nest to bend the twigs around her body and push them into a cup shape with her feet. The cup has four layers: coarse twigs (and sometimes bits of trash) covered in a leafy mat, then lined with grapevine bark and finally grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

What Was That?

October 26, 2020 — 15 Comments

F/13.0, 1/500, ISO 800.

Northern Cardinal ( Female )

Why couldn’t the leopard play hide and seek?

Because he was always spotted.

Interesting Fact: A week or two before the female starts building, she starts to visit possible nest sites with the male following along. The pair call back and forth and hold nesting material in their bills as they assess each site. Nests tend to be wedged into a fork of small branches in a sapling, shrub, or vine tangle, 1-15 feet high and hidden in dense foliage. They use many kinds of trees and shrubs, including dogwood, honeysuckle, hawthorn, grape, redcedar, spruce, pines, hemlock, rose bushes, blackberry brambles, elms, sugar maples, and box elders. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

When In Doubt Wear Red!

April 20, 2020 — 10 Comments

F/6.3, 1/125, ISO 250.

Northern Cardinal 

What do you call two birds in love?

Tweethearts !

Interesting Fact: Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male. ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

And Since I Have No Place To Go Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

January 4, 2020 — 17 Comments

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 320.

Northern Cardinal Female

Why did the baseball coach throw Cinderella off the team?

Because she ran away from the ball.

Interesting Fact: A week or two before the female starts building, she starts to visit possible nest sites with the male following along. The pair call back and forth and hold nesting material in their bills as they assess each site. Nests tend to be wedged into a fork of small branches in a sapling, shrub, or vine tangle, 1-15 feet high and hidden in dense foliage. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

 

 

 

Are You Talking To Me?!

November 9, 2019 — 30 Comments

northern-cardinal-4

F/6.3, 1/250, ISO 450.

Northern Cardinal

What did little Tom’s mother do when she caught him zapping the other children with static electricity?

She grounded him.

Interesting Fact: The oldest recorded Northern Cardinal was a female, and was 15 years, 9 months old when she was found in Pennsylvania. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

I Was Redhead Before It Was Cool!

April 17, 2019 — 10 Comments

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 640.

Northern Cardinal ( Male ) 

Why did Captain Kirk go in to the ladies room? 

Because he wanted to go where no man had gone before.

Interesting Fact:  The Cardinal nest typically takes 3 to 9 days to build; the finished product is 2-3 inches tall, 4 inches across, with an inner diameter of about 3 inches. Cardinals usually don’t use their nests more than once. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )

He Tried To Imagine The Sound Of The Color Red

August 31, 2018 — 18 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 800.

Scarlet Tanager

What happened when the two antennas got married?

Well, the ceremony was kinda boring, but the reception was great!

Interesting Fact: The female Scarlet Tanager sings a song similar to the male’s, but softer, shorter, and less harsh. She sings in answer to the male’s song and while she is gathering nesting material. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Scarlet_Tanager/overview )

It’s Monday Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!

August 27, 2018 — 9 Comments

F/ 7.1, 1/200, ISO 250.

Northern Cardinal ( Female )

My neighbor is really into music.

Even his driveway is hard rock.

Interesting Fact: Many people are perplexed each spring by the sight of a cardinal attacking its reflection in a window, car mirror, or shiny bumper. Both males and females do this, and most often in spring and early summer when they are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping).  ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )