M&F Juvie Cardinals: The Awkward Stage

Remember those awkward teenage years before maturity ?

You have two females here. They do look awkward, I let them be when they are molting, kind of like a bad mugshot.

Hey Bret ! heh, heh, heh..... You're probably right about letting them be, kind of like taking a pic of a woman without her makeup ?

Fill me in on a couple clues with regards to my mistaken identity will you ? I would have sworn the red breasted one was a male. I also didn't realize they were molting.

Two lovely clear shots.

Nice detail.

itw wrote in post #17143177
Hey Bret ! heh, heh, heh..... You're probably right about letting them be, kind of like taking a pic of a woman without her makeup ?

Fill me in on a couple clues with regards to my mistaken identity will you ? I would have sworn the red breasted one was a male. I also didn't realize they were molting.

You can see these every year, I used to think the same thing. Whether or not it is a "molt", I don't know but they are changing their coat from very first to the second. The give away is the wing. Looking at the wing, it is that pretty orangeish red the ladies have on their wings and not the intense red of a male. I actually took I don't know how many shots of a pretty one, thinkin, I am going to have one cool looking shot but it didn't work out as a male.
Having said all that, I went over to Cornelll's site and they say it is a juvie male, perhaps they all have this mottled colored look and end up however they do. If so, my record of incorrect ID"s still stands! Nice shots however they turn out.
The one I found to be female had a very large distinctive pattern and was easy to spot in the backyard, she was like Ladies are, Beautiful! I can't wait for the summer long molt to end and get back to the beauties to be everywhere.