Cardinal Hour

 

Cardinals are some of the favorite visitors to our feeders. Their family interactions are entertaining and they seem to form long-lasting pairs. The male will shell out sunflower seeds and offer them to his mate. On occasion I have seen a female offer a seed to a male. Once the young cardinals have fledged, they will follow “Dad” around and beg for food, fluttering their wings, calling and opening their beaks wide. The bird at the top of our site is a young cardinal, colored similar to the female but with a dark beak.

We have noticed that cardinals are the last birds we see out feeding in the evening. We call it Cardinal Hour though it is closer to 15 minutes or so. All the other birds have disappeared for the day but the redbirds are still busily cracking sunflower seeds. It leaves us wondering why this is so. Do they see better in the dimmer light or perhaps feel as if their daytime adversaries are less likely to be present. They are also usually the first birds seen in the early morning.

The male cardinal photographed in bright sunlight looks as if he thinks it is no one’s business why he stays out late.

Tail Identification: May 16, 2018

Hiding on the far side of a feeder doesn’t always work.

With bird feeders, and seed blocks especially, you really begin to learn how to identify birds by their tails. Some birds spread their tails out while others neatly stack them. Then there is the positon that they hold their tail in (up, down, straight out). After a bit of time, you become familar enough with your local birds to be able to make a pretty good guess at identification from just the tail. This particular picture shows some of the body as well.The bird in question is a Tufted Titmouse. The above picture is from one of our other feeders a couple of years ago. In the case of the Tufted Titmouse, it is the color combined with the mostly stacked straight out position that typically gives it away.