Female cardinal with the top down

Robins and starlings are everywhere, but the cardinals have been hard to capture. This female hung around for me to get a few shots. In this one she seems to have lowered her crest - I didn't know that was possible:

Cute bird. Was there something in her mouth?
I saw a few male cardinals the other day near my apartment but my telephoto lens has not arrived yet. Now that it has arrived, those cardinals are no where to be found.

cfcRebel wrote:
Cute bird. Was there something in her mouth?
I saw a few male cardinals the other day near my apartment but my telephoto lens has not arrived yet. Now that it has arrived, those cardinals are no where to be found.

Yes, she was beneath a feeder at the time, along with a variety of other birds and a squirrel.

We have a male that visits the feeder in our yard. I have several captures, but the feeder is just too far away for my lens. I suppose I need to buy a pole and bring the food closer to the house.

nice capture I'm lucky enough to have a nesting pair right by my house and they both come in to feed at my feeders daily Ive been lucky enough to capture both male and female in the same shot

Good catch. Cardinals are very skittish. They don't stay still for long.

Thanks.
I found this one of the male that's been hanging around our feeder. Thirty feet (10 meters) was about as close as I dared to come to him. (Apparently they don't always have that crest up after all.)

Nice work with the birds . . .