Yesterday morning I had a portrait session with a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) who wanted to update his presence on social media. Nowadays, he said, it takes more to attract a mate than merely putting on displays and singing loudly and he wanted to set himself apart from his rivals.
We tried a number of different poses in an effort to give him an artsy, mysterious look that would simultaneously suggest vulnerability and passion. We even tried a full-body portrait, because he knows that some of the lady cardinals are interested in more than just his handsome face.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great poses! Nice photography!
I do love cardinals. Not only were they wonderful bits of color during our midwestern winters, our high school mascot was the cardinal. Some kids built snowmen, but I still have a photo of the snow cardinal I built. Using a piece of plywood as a base for the tail may have been the high point of my artistic creativity.
Cardinals are one of my favorites too. It’s nice to have colorful migrating birds that pass through, but the cardinals are faithful and stay with us all winter. I am having trouble imagining a snow cardinal. Did you color it or was it an albino cardinal?
Behold the Snow Cardinal. It’s a very rare species.
I’m impressed. You must have had a lot of time on your hands and a lot of creativity. I am lucky if I manage to build the traditional-shaped snowman.
Of course I had time on my hands. It was the early 1960s, and I was in high school. 🙂
Love the images and the promotional opportunity. I shall tweet out to all my feathered friends. I saw 3 crimson rosellas today and wish my photography skills (& patience) were better. They all escaped un-captured :>
Wow. I had to use the internet to see what a crimson rosella looked like–it would be amazing to them in the wild, but I guess I would have to travel a long way to do so.
You must put it on your list Mike – you would enjoy every day.
Thanks, Chas. From what I have seen from afar, I could lose myself (in a good way) in Australia.
For Vincent. I saw your beautiful drawing of the cardinal on the refrigerator last night. It was perfect!!! I thought I would send you these Cardinal photos. I hope you like them. It was nice to see you last night! I love you! Aunt Penny-Ann
Sent from my iPhone
>
Great shots of a colorful character.
Thanks, Victor. Cardinals definitely have an abundance of personality.
He looks well fed!
Perhaps, like me, the cardinal has a tendency to put on a little extra weight in the winter. It might have been the camera angles, but I admit that he does not appear to be ready to appear on the beach.
If this doesn’t work then I have no idea what those ladies are waiting for!
I am not sure if the cardinal posted the photos on Facebook or Instagram, but I suspect he is a big used of Twitter.
Great portraits Mike. This is a bird we don’t get our way… so colourful and striking!
Thanks, Chris. I’d be more than happy to trade you a Northern Cardinal for one of your colorful Australian birds. 🙂
A rainbow lorikeet may be?