An afternoon snack

This handsome fellow outside the kitchen window is one of the six males we see in our garden. Gorgeous red flashes through the day and into the late afternoon. Cardinals are usually the last birds at our feeders before dusk. Easy to spot and very easy on the eyes too.

"Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) generally stay in the same area year-round, and they may return to the same breeding territory each year.They are non-migratory birds, so they don't leave their area to escape the cold or find a warmer climate. 



While the human voicebox can produce only one sound at a time, a bird’s syrinx is a paired structure that allows birds to sing complex, fast-paced songs. Located where the bronchial tubes from each lung come together, both sides are equally capable of producing sound. They can be used in concert to sing two different notes simultaneously and to complete broad sweeps in pitch quickly. In the Northern Cardinal, the left side of the syrinx produces the lower pitch portion of the sweeping notes, while the right side produces the higher pitch portion. Studies of a number of songbird species have shown that potential mates listen closely to song quality and cue in to small variations when distinguishing desirable mates from those who don’t quite have the chops."

~allaboutbirds.org

For the Record,
This day came in with sun and clouds on and off, cold with the snow cover doing little melting.


All hands distressed.