... Red and lovely

Busy day today - hubs and I dealt with a bit of snow removal this morning and then errands. We ended up with about 5 inches of light, fluffy snow and it is just beautiful! The sun shown brightly and the temps stayed below freezing most of the day. The birds (and squirrels) were happily noshing away at the buffet, but it was the cardinals who stole the day, again, for me. There is just something about a bright red bird on a cold winter day ...

If I knew my way around editing, I supposed I could have cloned out the feeder in this shot, but somehow that almost feels like cheating to me. After all, the only way I was able to get this shot was to anticipate that the cardinal, who was perched on a nearby tree, was going to fly towards the feeder. I focused on the feeder and waited until I saw motion, then started firing continuous shots. This was the only one I got that had him with wings open and more or less in focus - all the rest went to the bin. But that is the way it is with nature photography of any kind, isn't it?

I didn't have much time for photography today as it was already late in the afternoon when we got home, but I did get some nice still shots...

Simultaneous jumpers (this was going to be my blip until I got the cardinal in flight!)

Dark-eyed junco (winter sparrow) with a gleam in his eye

And I took a couple of shots of the blue jays this morning, Beak full of suet.. Oink!

Thank you so very much for the hearts and stars on yesterdays cardinal close up. Tomorrow I will give you something other than a cardinal, but for today, enjoy some redness!

Only one day left until 2013...

xxoo
Debbi