Cardinal Convention

STEP ONE: Before engaging a venue for a large convention, you should first send an investigative scout to determine if the facility has enough seats for large meetings. This tree should do nicely.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fca21d6e.jpg

STEP 2: Next, make sure there are suitable sleeping quarters. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/fca21d6a.jpg

STEP 3&4: Check the menu - SUNFLOWER SEEDS, YUMMERS!...Also, check perimeter for safety from natural fur-bearing predators...this one has a safety glass wall, and would provide a good opportunity to study our predator's habits up close, an added bonus! (although we have to admit we were scared at first)http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/fca21d56.jpg

STEP 5: Meet with the budget committee for final approval
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...2/fca21d60.jpg

STEP 6: INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...2/fca21d5a.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fca21d57.jpg

Wow! What a great show. What do you cats say about it?

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Originally posted by Barbara
Wow! What a great show. What do you cats say about it?

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Ritzy has been glued to her "cat tv" all weekend! (CAT TV=PATIO WINDOW):rolleyes:

I just love cardinals. What lovely pictures!!!

What beautiful pictures!! :eek: If that's the view from you house, you're very lucky! :)

Those pictures are absolutely gorgeous!!!

That is fabulous!!!! Ms. Ritzy is sooo lucky, as are you, to witness the beauty of cardinals. Mom just told me today she saw her first one...signaling Spring....apparently, the six miles that separate she and I mean totally different weather conditions...since I see nothing resembling Spring.

I love those photos!!! And, the narration was great.

Wow! How do you get so many cardinals??? Were there any females? (I have one pair at Edwina's Entertainment Center.) Is there special feed you use?

Wow!!! We only have two. Do you always have so many?

Well, actually in our neck of the woods, they hang around all winter, so they are not a sign of spring (unfortunately). They are our state bird, I guess I see why now.

Yes, there are females - in fact, they seem to hang out in pairs. When the males are in the tree, the females are up eating in the feeders and vice versa.

We usually always have 2 or 3 nesting pair in our yard (in fact, somewhere in my digital attic I have a picture of one on her nest in a lilac bush) - I've read that they mate for life and don't leave their chosen area throughout their lives....not sure where I read that, on a web site devoted to birding I think...

Anyway, I don't know why there are so many this year. This morning (when the picture was taken) I counted 11 males and 11 females...(couldn't get them all int he picture). There has been more snow than usual this winter, so perhaps the food source has been less plentiful and they are just going wherever they can find it. Whenever there is a lot of snow or ice, we try to keep the feeders full.

As to food - the cardinals LOVE sunflower seeds! They eat them one at a time, breaking away the hulls and eating the insides - looks like one of those peanut shell bars on our back deck...nothing but sunflower hulls! We went to Lowes and bought this enormous bag of just sunflower seeds.....my father used to grow big sunflowers and place the heads around for birds to eat in the winter.

They also like field corn. We have an ear of corn mounted on a post that sits upright so they can perch on it and pick off the kernels.

We have also had two different kinds of woodpeckers, blue jays, red finches, bluebirds and others I haven't figured out yet....it's just been amazing this winter.

flicka(woodpecker)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...2/fcdd2bd4.jpg

momma cardinal
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/fca158fa.jpg

poppa cardinal (from the back)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...f/fca158f9.jpg

Incredible special pictures !!!! I love those cardinals !!

BIRDIES!!!!! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I WANT THEM!!!!!!! We don't have cardinals here, so I've never seen one in real life! They are BEAUTIFUL! I wish we had them here!

Wow, there's more cardinals there then in St. Peter's at EAster. ;) Beautiful pics! I'm so glad you feed the birds, especially this tough winter. They seem to appreciate it. There must be a safe home alert on birdie.com.

Gorgeous!!! Those pictures are amazing....the birds are so vibrant, my hubby thought the picture was fake. :) Beautiful!

Great photos - what beautiful birds. Fabulous colour. We very seldom see cardinals in our area. I think I've seen a cardinal twice. We have a lot of blue jays, though.

Beautiful pictures of such beautiful birds. My cats would love to watch this kind of t.v. :)

I laughed out loud when I spotted Ritzy in the third picture - of course that's where she would be, with this dazzling show going on outside!

I so love cardinals, but this year we have a hawk :mad: hanging around the neighborhood, so I have had NO BIRDS at my feeders. Usually I have huge flocks of all kinds, cardinals included, but they have been scared off. I sure hope this doesn't last all year, because I really miss watching my birdies, and so does the kitty!

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Originally posted by NoahsMommy
Gorgeous!!! Those pictures are amazing....the birds are so vibrant, my hubby thought the picture was fake. :) Beautiful!

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It's funny you should say that - I printed off the last picture and showed it to my hubby - he said if he hadn't seen the birds himself he would have wondered if I used some photoshop to put all those birds in the picture.

Aside from not being patient enough to do that :)....but these were all real - they are really that vibrant, and of course against the stark white snow they really stand out. I think the last one is earmarked for my next set of Christmas cards.

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Originally posted by All Creatures Great And Small
I laughed out loud when I spotted Ritzy in the third picture - of course that's where she would be, with this dazzling show going on outside!

I so love cardinals, but this year we have a hawk :mad: hanging around the neighborhood, so I have had NO BIRDS at my feeders. Usually I have huge flocks of all kinds, cardinals included, but they have been scared off. I sure hope this doesn't last all year, because I really miss watching my birdies, and so does the kitty!

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We are not immune to the hawks, either as we are near a very large forested area---they usually go after the large population of squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and snakes in the area. There has been one around , dive bombing the tree area occasionally. It does scare them away for a few hours, but so far they keep coming back to the feeders. I think hawks are spectacular and beautiful in their own right, but admit it's hard to watch them going after the birds. Still, it is part of a natural ecosystem

omg! how cute! they are soooo beautiful and vivid!:eek: :eek:
ausome pics!:D

Wow!!!:eek: :eek: I don't think I've ever seen so many cardinals in one spot! They are beautiful, and I can't believe how vibrant they are. We usually have one couple, and occassionally 2 couples around, but never more than that.

These are incredible pictures, and Ritzy must be in birdy heaven! :)

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Originally posted by Tubby & Peanut's Mom
Wow!!!:eek: :eek: I don't think I've ever seen so many cardinals in one spot! They are beautiful, and I can't believe how vibrant they are. We usually have one couple, and occassionally 2 couples around, but never more than that.

These are incredible pictures, and Ritzy must be in birdy heaven! :)

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Me too! I was just amazed at those pictures! Such beautiful bright birds they are! I think I would be as entranced in watching as dear Ritzy must be!!
LOL LOL I too almost thought the picture had been "doctored" up in Photoshop! Simply amazing! I would absolutely love a larger copy of one of those prints, tuxluvr! :) Is it possible to save one as a high quality .jpeg or .tiff and email it to me?? :D

A family friend of ours from England gave my mom the most beautiful framed picture of winter cardinals a few Christmases ago. Well, since we go back to Indiana for the holidays, my mom wanted to bring the picture back out here to California, so she took the picture with her on the plane. When we arrived, we took a cab back to my dad's and my office where we had parked the car. Needless to say, my mom had accidentally left the picture in the cab...and we haven't seen it since. The guy must have kept it for himself because we had gone right back to the airport and put in a claim for it. My mom was crushed. It still makes me :mad: that this guy wouldn't have turned it in. I know he didn't turn it in on purpose because he wasn't the most amiable. He was already peod that my mom and dad and I and all of our luggage had to fit in his car! :mad: Heck, my dad is the one who packed the trunk for the guy, so I don't know why he was so pis*ed off at us! Ugh!! :rolleyes: