In the early morning mist yesterday at my local marshland park, the bright red color of this male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was even more distinctive than usual, shining like a beacon in the limited light.
The white-colored sky and the shadowy shapes of the trees in the distance provide a simple backdrop for this first image that gives it a lot of atmosphere. The wet, lichen-encrusted branch helps to tie the cardinal back to nature and keep this from looking too much like a studio shot, though it does look like the cardinal was posing for me.
When the cardinal moved to a different perch, the backdrop changed and the white sky was replaced by the dried-out vegetation of a field of cattails. Fortunately, the vegetation was far enough away from the subject that it softened up with the aperture wide open. In the second image, the cardinal seems to have become a little irritated with me and is scowling a bit. In both shots, the cardinal looks to have fluffed up its feathers, an indication that it was cold outside when I took these shots.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
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Such a cute little fellow
He was really puffed up! I like that second shot, but it doesn’t look like a very comfortable perch.
It looked like a number of the birds were puffed up. The cardinal did not remain very long in the second perch–I think you are right that it was precarious and not particularly comfortable.
Our State bird, and for good reason—beautiful bird, nice capture. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thanks. According to Wikipedia, the cardinal is the state bird for seven states–the most popular bird for states.
Beautiful shots of a gorgeous bird. I keep trying to get photos of the male cardinals who visit my garden frequently but I never seem to get a remotely decent photo of them. I have managed to capture shots of a couple of females but the males are more alert and skittish. Trying to photograph the birds in my garden makes me want a zoom lens really badly. I have not owned one since I switched from manual to digital.
Thanks. I was pretty fortunate to get some relatively unobstructed shots of the male cardinal, which is not usually the case. It seems like they like to bury themselves in bushes and it’s not easy to get a clear shot. I was definitely helped by having a long zoom, though I did have some success in the past with a shorter zoom, thanks to patience and persistence.
He does look a little cross and cold. I wish we had cardinals here, they’re so colourful.