I love the beautiful cardinals that come to my bird feeder. There is one male cardinal in particular that's such a brilliant red he really stands out. Of course, I have no idea if it's the same one I see all the time, but it seems like it. There's another male cardinal that has some brown on it. And I love the female cardinal's bright red beak. I hadn't seen the cardinals much since the two trees were cut down (see my Tree Tragedy post) and was afraid they had moved to a different territory, but now that winter's here they are back. They don't seem to come as often as they did before, but I still see them once in a while.
These are all photos I've taken without the benefit of a telephoto lens.
The cardinal belongs to the family of birds that includes grosbeaks, tanagers and buntings. It also includes saltators. I'd never heard of a saltator, which is Latin for 'leaper' or 'dancer'. They were given that name for the way they hop around on the ground. Most saltators are found in Central and South America.
This past summer I noticed a male feeding a female and assumed it was daddy feeding a baby even though the baby was as big as he was. (I have since learned that sometimes the adult male feeds the adult female as part of the mating ritual.) The female kept up a constant 'feed me, feed me, feed me' the entire time so I still think it was a youngster. And there was a second female around which I thought was the mama of the other female. In any event, I don't think the 'feed me, feed me' was proper courting behavior.
I was also afraid that maybe one of the outside cats had gotten my favorite male cardinal. One of the last times I saw it in the fall it was foraging on the ground. I'm so glad that was not the case and that my cardinals are back! Just as I was finishing this post I was visited by THREE pairs of cardinals. I'm thrilled.
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