The days have now gotten shorter—with today marking the Winter Solstice—and bright colors have largely disappeared from the natural landscape. It is therefore a special joy to see the bright red color of a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) at this time of the year. Unlike many birds that molt into a dull plumage during the winter, male cardinals continue to shine brightly and offer welcome relief from the dullness of the landscape.
I spotted this handsome cardinal this past Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as he turned to the early morning sun and basked briefly in its warmth and light.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Love these guys!
I sometimes think of them as my winter companions–so many other species leave us for the winter.
Cardinals are one of my all-time favorite birds.
I love them too. The bright red of the male cardinal really catches my eye, but the more subtle beauty of the female is often more impressive to me.
Beautiful shot. I love the way the warm light is turning the highlighted areas of his red feathers a fiery orange. I love seeing cardinals at any time of year but especially in the winter. As you say, they are a welcome splash of warm, bold colour in those dull months.
Thanks, Laura. As I was preparing the photo, I too noticed the color shift where the sunlight light was hitting the bird directly. It’s easy to think of birds like this as being a single color, but your perceptive eyes easily detected that this is not the case. Photography has really increased my sensitivity to differences in shapes, colors, and lines.
Colorblindness keeps me from seeing these birds in nature so I appreciate being able to see them here. Thanks!
Does your color blindness cause all the colors to muted or is it especially acute with certain colors? I recall that you sometimes use software to help you identify the specific shades in some of your photos.
I can see red until it is next to green and then it disappears. Then there is yellow and orange, blue and purple, green and brown, etc. It isn’t that I can’t see color, just that sometimes I can’t tell what color I’m seeing.
I do have a freeware program called “What Color” that helps a lot in reading the colors in photos, but that also slows the process down considerably.
Excellent photo, ahhh, so lovely. The yes, welcome burst of color, the crisp lines of the tree limbs, the visible toes, and that fiery patch of sunlight on the breast. One of America’s most splashy birds.