There’s an active bird scene outside of my window. Specifically, a rather frisky and vocal cardinal likes to hang out on an adjacent tree. By hang out, I mean that he seems to delight mostly in harassing the lady cardinals. Since Monday, he’s been there, strutting about — looking all cardinal-like and spry. It’s sort of surprising that the authorities haven’t yet been called on him. For he’s persistent and appears to be a bit of a ruffian, from what I can tell, given that the other male cardinals seem to have surrendered the area to him in response to his self-proclaimed glory. Boy does he love to chirp as he gads about. Though, full confession, I’ll admit that when it comes to judging the character of avian folk that I’m not 100% reliable, for they tend to flock to different, well, flocks than I do. Anyhow, while I cannot attest to the positive or negative traits of a given bird, I am a fan of certain species. Label me a sucker for most owls, hummingbirds (saw plenty, including a hummingbird nest while I was in Seattle), and woodpeckers, among others. So, the cardinal was doing his thing; calling out for the lady birds (I presume, perhaps incorrectly), which apparently also entices me (let’s call him Cardinal Romeo or Siren of Cardinal or something along those lines…), for when he alights on a nearby branch, I sometimes find myself at the window remarking on his splendor. Which was exactly what was happening when, to my astonishment, I spied a yellow-bellied sapsucker in an adjacent tree. As any reasonable person would do, given the circumstances, I grabbed my camera, and, well, here you are, a capture of this critter’s glory.
