The elusive immature cardinals are difficult to photograph. When I go outside to get a shot of them they fly away pronto! They are the funniest looking little guys. When younger than this they are grayish in color. Now that they are getting older they are molting and their new and beautiful red feathers are growing. The funny thing is how bald they look and how skinned their heads are when this transformation is taking place. It's like the story of the ugly duckling, but instead it's the ugly cardinal. Of course the cardinal is a cardinal whereas the duckling was a beautiful swan. Oh well.
This photograph is of a pileated woodpecker pecking away in one of our dying pine trees. It is so sad to see these trees die. Just this week we have four more that are losing the battle. Soon we will need to have these removed as we did the other 10 or so. At least the woodpeckers (both pileated and red-bellied) will have beetles to sustain them. Sad indeed for the pines.
The elusive immature cardinals are difficult to photograph. When I go outside to get a shot of them they fly away pronto! They are the funniest looking little guys. When younger than this they are grayish in color. Now that they are getting older they are molting and their new and beautiful red feathers are growing. The funny thing is how bald they look and how skinned their heads are when this transformation is taking place. It's like the story of the ugly duckling, but instead it's the ugly cardinal. Of course the cardinal is a cardinal whereas the duckling was a beautiful swan. Oh well.
This photograph is of a pileated woodpecker pecking away in one of our dying pine trees. It is so sad to see these trees die. Just this week we have four more that are losing the battle. Soon we will need to have these removed as we did the other 10 or so. At least the woodpeckers (both pileated and red-bellied) will have beetles to sustain them. Sad indeed for the pines.
6 comments:
Superb post. Absolutely delightful.
Believe it or not, there is a nest of pileated woodpeckers in the city (or was, haven't seen them in a couple of years) that would come and search for insects on the camphor tree in our front yard. You always knew when they were there because, unlike the rat-a-tat of the smaller woodpeckers, you would hear a very loud THWACK.
hi lizzy, i've never seen immature cardinals before. they become so beautiful but hmmmmmm. there're some pileated woodpeckers that show up in the spring in the nearby woodlot but they leave in late spring and i don't know why or where they go. tough about the trees. have a peaceful day! steven
You can certainly tell when a pileated woodpecker is nearby. Their pecking can be heard for miles. Getting a photo of one is totally another story.
A couple of great shots of some difficult to photograph birds.
We don't have those two birds here; reminds me of the old song when I was a girl, 'that's the woody woodpecker's song'. Who sang it, Bing Crosby?
It's a real shame that the trees are dying; we're experiencing the same here.
I love pileateds and have one who visits on occassion. Are your pinetrees being killed off by pine bark beetles?
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