Feathered Friends SMAP Contest Entry - A Male Northern Cardinal

This is my entry for the Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 67 which is hosted by @nelinoeva! The theme for this round is "Male Birds". You can learn more about the contest and how to enter HERE!

I photographed this beautiful male Northern Cardinal that was by the bird feeders that I have in my yard. It is hard in some varieties of birds to tell the difference between a male bird and a female bird but the Northern Cardinal has very distinct differences which makes them very easy to tell them apart. The male has an overall vibrant red color with black feathers around his eyes and beak.

I think Mr Cardinal is very aware that I'm photographing him. The Northern Cardinals will sometimes forage under the feeders where the House Sparrows have knocked seeds out of the feeders and onto the ground.

I took these photos at the end of last month and yesterday I took all of the feeders down to give them a thorough cleaning. Weather permitting, I will put them back up today. It is important to clean the feeders now and then for the health of the birds. I will be refilling them with safflower seeds which the Northern Cardinals love as do a few other birds that like to visit. 💖

All photos and text by me @deerjay. All rights reserved.