Cardinals

We have 2 bird feeders on our back deck outside my kitchen window. I love watching them and am always trying out new seed and other bird treats to see what kind of birds we can attract. It's always exciting to have a new visitor. We get out the bird field guide, identify the new bird and then mark it in another book - Our bird lifelist. This book is a list of all the birds we've seen in our yard or at our feeder since we moved here.

My favorite visitors have to be the Cardinals. There are some days where there
are up to as many as 25 bright red male cardinals here at the same time. Some at the feeders and others waiting in the trees for their turn to eat. It amazes me how bright and colorful they are- turning barren winter trees alive with color.

Then in the spring when their babies hatch the fun really begins. Little cardinal families start arriving at the feeders. The babies are awkward and their feathers are molting and funny looking- but, it is the Daddy cardinals that touch my heart as they take feed from the feeder and feed their children beak to beak.

These redbirds have become an important part of our families routine, brightening each day.