Parental guidance and snacks in Eileen’s Ocean Grove garden. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click to enlarge
Redbird on a Black Bough
Cardinal, cloaked in red
Like his Eminence
Whose name you bear;
Principal of all red,
Preening your carmine breast;
Vermilion swatch
On a bare branch;
Coal black mask, blood red crest;
Overwintering, you
Redeem the bleak
Leafless landscape:
Crimson on a black bough.
George Held, Culling (Poets Wear Prada, 2011)
Speaking of red birds, here is Jessica Molaskey from her album Pentimento
George submitted this poem under the heading of snowy/plowing problems, and his poem does reference “overwintering” but this photo is in the spring, so hopefully George will forgive us for shuffling the seasons on him. I have also posted his poem as he submitted it against a winter landscape.
We love cardinal visits in the winter, especially against the white snow. They have a way of making everyone happier and excited.
Cardinals are very skittish birds, but they come to our garden and prowl around on the ground. They don’t come to the feeders very much. When they do visit us, it is usually early morning or dusk. It seems like they prefer time uncluttered by others. They often come as a pair. The male, in our photo, is, as George describes, bright red. The female is a pale red/olive.
But in the spring they molt and can vary their colors transiently.
We are very grateful when they visit us in winter. Paul