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.
We would have liked a white Christmas, but they are extremely rare here. On the other hand our local birds, especially the ones that have come south, prefer partly cloudy and 60.
We spotted this young cardinal and snapped a photo one summer. It is not long out of the nest and has found itself in a world suddenly larger and more challenging than anything it has known. It looks like it is wondering where its next seed is coming from. Dad will feed it for about two weeks while Mom is probably off sitting on a new nest full of eggs. Soon it will be responsible for finding food and cracking sunflower seeds all by itself.