Cardinal Miscellany

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImHE78dwKjY -

is a very nice video of a cardinal nest with 3 chicks being fed, one of whom is surely Alpha Chick.



http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/washtenaw_audubon/pcd4614_038.jpg/view.html

is a site with information on cardinals, including the fact that they are known by other names, including "Virginia nightingale."

I'm fired up about cardinals again because "my" couple has at least one surviving fledgling who (not "that" or "which," but "who") is feeding out back, sometimes with Ma and Pa, but usually rumbling around by herself in her '39 Ford.

I say "her" because of the current coloring, but that might change as the bird ages. I'm pretty sure I read once that the red-tailed hawk doesn't have that rusty red tail until its second year of life. Other teen birds also look like the female adult for awhile--the boat-tailed grackle, for one.

The daunting bounty of information on all these critters is what keeps me at the Class D Minor League level of birding and naturalist. On the other hand, I wonder if major league birders get any more of a charge than I do from knowing a cardinal or mockingbird's presence by the song alone.

But I do envy and admire the knowledge of these folks. I don't know about protocols for recommending other blogs (is it uncool?), but I'll mention two that I follow as examples of experts (by my standards) who have not lost their youthful enthusiasm for the subject. These are good places to get some education the pleasant way.

Susan Gets Native at susankwilliams.blogspot.com
JulieZickefoose.com/blog