It is normally hard for a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) to camouflage itself, but it seemed to blend in pretty well with the brilliant red leaves of these sumac plants last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Two of my favorites in one photo — what could be better?
Thanks. I hope that means that I correctly identified the sumac–I was a whole lot more certain about the cardinal. 🙂
Love cardinals
Very nice rhythm in this image, as well as color.
Thanks, Michael. I am intrigued by your use of the word “rhythm”–I don’t think I have ever had someone describe one of my images in that way.
There can be visual rhythm as well as rhythm in sound. This case, the rhythm of the branches curving in the same direction.
Ah, gotcha. I definitely noted (and liked) the repeated shapes. I wonder what other words that I associate with music can be used to describe images. Maybe I can take a lyrical photo. 🙂
Anything that deals with frequencies, no matter what frequencies — light or sound, have analogous qualities. So, lyrical photo? Why not?
I’m happy to see a bird actually eating the berries. They persist here all winter. The birds don’t touch them until spring.