I got her! Mama Cardinal and the expansion of my morning flock

Backyard, Birds

Well the thing about Cardinals is they are noisy.  I’m working this morning at home.  Although it’s a sunny lovely day and I’d love to be outside birding someone does have to pay the bills around here  😉

I had noticed a pair of Cardinals in my morning flock a few days ago and made a mental note to keep the camera close in case I could snap them through the windows some morning.  Although grainy through my window, I did shoot Mama Cardinal this morning. She was kind enough to loudly announce her presence so I simply stood up and took the photo.  I saw no less than 2 Cardinals creep through the cedars about 845am I will have to keep investigating to see if there are a whole family or must ma and pa.

female Northern Cardinal my backyard Jan. 7

female Northern Cardinal my backyard Jan. 7

backyard-cardinal-girl-jan-7 009

Bird behavior really fascinates me and I noticed the other birds got the heck out of her way and seemed a little offended afterwards.  I think I may have even noticed Bluejays giving her the right of way.  Queen of my cedars in the morning, clearly.

I was already happy as I saw my first backyard Junco in the cedars this morning, and even better than that my House Sparrows are back.  And as I’d hoped, they have increased their numbers.  There were at least 3 this morning so ma and pa were successful in the spring.

House Sparrow my backyard (non-breeding male I believe)

House Sparrow my backyard (non-breeding male I believe)

Also, I watched for about 10 minutes this morning and now know for sure the birds are coming through not just for cover but to eat from the Cedars.  The Chickadees and Golfinch in particular were chowing down with a vengeance.  Well it does take a lot of energy to fly so it’s good to have a variety of feeding stations in the hood I suppose.