Crimson Elegance: Unraveling the Mystique of the Northern Cardinal
Hello Everyone,
It feels like it’s been a long week. I have been taking the time to rest but for some reason I have been feeling very restless. I wanted to make sure my back pain got better before going out and doing a hike. However, my back pain comes and goes which is something I have never felt. I hope this doesn’t mean that a worse pain is coming. I am definitely taking the necessary precautions to make sure I don’t hurt myself lifting or bending down. I, also have been feeling like I am getting a cold. Here in Virginia’s weather has been all over the place. We had a solid week of good weather and then it got cold again. I am definitely looking forward to the warmer weather as I feel like my hikes would be more enjoyable. I have had to deal with cold weather the past few month and it definitely gets to you. I will definitely not miss all the layers I had to put on in order just to go on a hike. I have been also looking at new spots to explore as I want to increase my chances of seeing new species of birds. Over the weekend I decided to go back on my regular trail and I took my son along with me. He is 7 years old and already is asking me how to use a camera. He also seems very interested in learning about birds. So as we were going along I was telling him what birds we were seeing and he got very good at telling them apart.
I have been working really hard trying to make a little extra money on the side so I have been putting photography to the side for a bit. I have only been going out once a week and I try to make that day work for me. I try to get as many captures as I can as it’s my only day I have. I definitely see a huge improvement in my photography which is definitely a rewarding feeling. Every time I nail those shots definitely makes me feel good about how far I have come in this journey. I know at the moment I am trying to catch up on some bills but once all is sorted I am going to dive much deeper into film photography. I have been trying to show my artistic side with each and every single photo I capture. Editing has definitely improved as well and I feel really good about how I have adapted to different situations. I have decreased the amount of equipment I carry to make my hikes much easier as well so I can walk for hours sometimes and I don’t get tired. Carrying all that equipment definitely gets tiring. As you may know I use a canon m50 mark ii as my primary camera. Is definitely true what they say a camera doesn’t make you professional. I feel like a professional with how proficient I am now my hard work is paying off for sure. I have always believed that the only way to get better at something is to keep working hard and you will eventually see the fruits of your labor. It’s something I wish to teach my son. Just the other day he was telling me when he grows up he wants to be a photographer and musician. I told him I am glad he knows what he wants but I told him the only way we get what we want in life is by putting the time and work into it. I told him he can be whatever he wants to be as long as he works hard for it and I definitely want to show him with my photography. I am self taught and I’ve had to work hard to fix all the issues I have encountered while out taking pictures. I have definitely come a long way but I have not allowed for anyone to tell me that I can’t do something. Instead I have been on a mission to prove everyone wrong. I want to be at a point one day where I can inspire someone to go out and do something without having to worry about everyone else opinion. I hope to be a pro in the near future and be able to guide and teach everyone that ask for my help.
The Northern Cardinal with its striking plumage and beautiful melodies is one of my favorite birds to see while out on a hike. It is one of the most beloved birds in North America. There’s no around it people love the Northern Cardinal. Did you know? that the Northern Cardinal is the state bird for seven states. The seven states are Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. Male Cardinals have that striking red plumage and females are brown with some red on the wings. Look for Northern Cardinals in dense shrubby areas such as forest edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows, backyards, marshy thickets, mesquite, regrowing forest, and ornamental landscaping. Northern Cardinals mainly eat seeds and fruit, supplementing these with insects. Common fruits and seeds they eat are dogwood, wild grapes, buckwheat, grasses, sedges, mulberry, hackberry, blackberry, sumac, tulip-tree, and corn. They eat many kinds of birdseeds but prefer black oil sunflower seed. They will also eat beetles, crickets, katydids, leafhoppers, cicadas, flies, centipedes, spiders, butterflies, and moths. A week or two before the nest building begins females start to visit possible nest sites while males follow along. They call back and forth and hold nesting materials in their bills as they assess each nest site. They tend to wedged their nest into a fork of small branches in a sapling, shrub, or vine tangle 1-15 feet high and hidden in dense foliage. Males sometimes bring nesting material while females build the nest. Females crush twigs with their beaks until they are pliable then turns in the nest to bend the twigs around her body and pushes them into a cup with her feet. The nest typically takes 3 to 9 days to build the nest is 2-3 inches tall 4 inches across with in inner diameter of about 3 inches. Cardinals usually don’t use their nest more than once. A clutch size is about 2-5 eggs with 1-2 broods. They incubate their eggs for about 11-13 days and a nestling period of 7-13 days. These beautiful birds love to forage the grounds with other scavenging birds. A truly beautiful bird I can definitely see why several states adapted their vibrant hues as part of their state.
