Tried to capture both of what appears to be a mated pair of Cardinals that come to the feeder..
They normally camp out in the lilac bush to make sure the cause is clear...
He is much braver most of the time, and she usually watches from the safety of the bush...
Hope you can make him out... He's pretty tucked into the bush today...
@InvaderGzim PS She looks almost like a cedar waxwing with those markings. "She's a beaut, Clark!"
@InvaderGzim I'm pretty sure she's a female cardinal. Its just that female cardinals have some of the markings that cedar waxwings do. If she's usually with the male, you can bet its a cardinal, though. The mated pairs don't often stray too far from one another.
@Aja
I always wondered though... Her (assuming gender) tail feathers are much longer than his, which threw me a bit...
@InvaderGzim Hmm I'm not aware of a difference in tail length between the sexes. Maybe he's just missing a few feathers from a run in with a hawk or something.
@InvaderGzim By the way, if you haven't already bookmarked it, the Cornell Ornithology Lab has an excellent site for referencing birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/
@Aja
I think I tried their app a while back... But I didn't like the interface at the time... I've used them in the past, when I was trying to figure out what the titmouse was... 😁
Mostly go with Google and a description, and keep clicking from there...
@InvaderGzim Yeah I was the same way about their app. Apps, not so good. Info pretty thorough. There are some specialty sites out there like Sialis.org for bluebirds and so forth. You can do better than Cornell but its a good starting point for me when I'm trying to ID a bird "on the fly" 😅
@Aja
Well, dang... Never heard of that species before... But you're right, I'll need to pay closer attention when I see it next!
Always assumed, since they normally come together...