Mrs. Cardinal

While the female is certainly not as flamboyant as her male counterpart, she is pretty nevertheless. A beautiful golden tan. I wish she had been standing on the end of an outside branch. It would have made for a better background. Oh well! Picky! Picky! The weather is getting nicer and Ihexpect to see them more and more. If the wind would just stop blowing so hard.....

Hibiscus

Tube lined and painted on bisque with fired ceramic colors.

They are also back...

As spring gets closer and the weather gets nicer, more and more of our "staple" birds are making an appearance. These small birds are really pretty.

He's not been back....

This is just a different version. This is also one of the reasons I like living away from the city. It is a shame that the city is moving to us.

A little early...

We have a confused peach tree. It's not a variety suitable for our area regardless of the what the tag said. It's a variety for a warmer climate. As a result, it starts to bloom very early in the year, and the fruit always gets killed by a freeze. But, the bees enjoy it and I enjoy the bees.

It's a girl!

At the moment we have red-winged blackbirds infiltrating our feeders in rather large numbers. Still, this is the only photo I've been able to get so far. It is a female red-winged blackbird. I still want photos of the males. I think they are pretty even if they are eating us out of house and home.

They're just so cute...

Here is another shot of the Carolina Chickadee. They are just so cute, I can't resist trying to photograph them. This time he just sat there while I took this shot. A rarity indeed.

They're here again...

Early last fall the cardinals seemed to disappear. We would spot one only occasionally. We were used to seeing several males and twice as many females. Since they are usually around, even during the fall and winter months, we were getting concerned. Maybe they were here all along but just not particularly active. I don't know which, but they are back. Since this is one of my favorite birds, I am delighted to see more of them again.

Another pose...

This particular day he came to the tree several times. This is the only other image I was able to take. Most of the time he stayed behind the branches even more than in this shot.

It's a start...

I have been trying to get a good picture of this guy for a long time. Usually he flies in and out so fast that I can't get a shot. Sometimes he will stay and play, but I never have my camera when he does. He stayed around for a little longer on this day but still was pretty quick to leave.

I promised myself...

I have tried for a couple of years to get a decent photograph of these tiny, tiny birds. With the equipment I had up until now, I had to do a lot of cropping just to be able to see the bird. The resulting image was not the best. I finally purchased a lens that will help me to achieve that goal. I think it is a good start.