Just a pix of a cardinal showing off

[packman]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Looks the size of a pterodactyl.

[erronis]

27. Don't forget that these "cute" birds were once velociraptors or some variant.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Yes, have a good look at a bird and their ancestry is pretty obvious.

[niyad]

2. Incredible! Thank you so much for sharing!

[CatMor]

3. So beautiful.

[MFM008]

4. i remember these guys

in the snow in Illinois when I was a kid.
a flash of red .
We dont have them in Washington State.
In fact the first time I saw our state bird the Goldfinch i thought it was an escaped canary......

[MLAA]

5. A show for the ladies!

[soldierant]

33. I don't think I've ever seen an avian flasher before.

[MLAA]

36. Let alone one going flying sideways!

I am always amazed when I watch nature shows and the beautifully colored, flamboyant birds doing dances are all males. 😬

[Skittles]

6. that is cool!

[marble falls]

7. Too many Roman Catholics in my family not to take a look at a Cardinal caught at hi-jinks.

[Oldem]

8. Wonderful capture!

[Texin]

9. How gorgeous was THAT? Go, Big Boy!

We have a bunch of gorgeous Cardinals in our back hollies. We had a spectacle of birds - mostly Robin Red Breasts - descending on our Yaupons with a lot of red berries - this weekend. It was remarkable. They stripped those shrubs in record time! I think I saw a Cooper's Hawk rush into the melee at one point, but all the berry-grubbers looked to have escaped unhurt.

[lastlib]

31. I've had a couple at my feeder this week. And at least one female.

This cold snap has really brought them out!

Very cool shot!

[BobTheSubgenius]

10. WOW what a picture!

[WA-03 Democrat]

11. Awesome

Thanks for posting this.

[Stuart G]

12. Incredible... Take a close look, The wings have points at the end, and the trees on the right

upper left, have points at their ends...Also, Orange contrasts perfectly with white snow, and both wings
contain white as well as orange. The sun shines on the orange body perfectly and the cardinal is looking
at the camera perfectly...The curve of the upper wing matches the line of trees in the distance and the
top of the wing points to the sky...................................

....................................packman....Did you take this picture? If you did it is one of the greatest bird pictures ever...

If you didn't take this, then thank you for sharing this with us. It is beautiful beyond belief...

[lookyhereyou]

13. territorial display

they often attack their reflection in glass

[lastlib]

32. One year at my scout camp, when we could park our cars close to our campsite....

we had one that fought with his reflection in outside mirrors the entire eight-day session. He was so ferocius going after "that other bird" in his territory, that we gave him an Indian name, "Fierce Fighting Cardinal." One of our camp traditions is wearing a necklace with plastic eagle claws--red paint on the claws denotes a chieftain of our honor camping society. Well, this cardinal had red claws, so we made him an honorary chieftain of our tribe. It was really fun, and quite memorable, watching him for those eight days!

[COL Mustard]

14. That Is A Beautiful Picture

Thank you for posting it!!!

[iluvtennis]

15. Very beautiful shot. Thanks for sharing. nt

[NoMoreRepugs]

16. Great shot Packman.

[Mira]

17. I love it so

very much!

[luvtheGWN]

18. Just a truly spectacular shot!

I have two pairs of cardinals in my back yard, along with several blue jays and several other species, plus a really dumb woodpecker!
But I've never had the opportunity to see a cardinal do this, up close and personal! They are such timid little guys and the jays have more nerve than I would wish! They are peanut stealers and so I have to always figure out a way to let the cards get the nuts before the jays do.

[lunatica]

19. That's Red the Dead Eye Guy

Cardinal Extraordinaire. The ladies love him!

[ailsagirl]

20. Gorgeous!!

[tblue37]

21. Gorgeous guy!! nt

[dlk]

22. Amazing shot!

[patphil]

23. Now that's one cool dude.

What a show off!

[hay rick]

24. Wearing his ball cap backwards. The dude!

[Blue Owl]

25. Lookin dapper!

[SmartVoter22]

26. The perfect millisecond of time

a moment earlier, or later and the feather spread would not have that perfect uniformity and balance.
It's expression would not be dead camera-centered.

What perfect timing.

Enter this in British Natural History Musuem's Annual Photographic Exhibition

[wnylib]

29. I learned to imitate a cardinal

sound when I was a kid, well enough that they responded. I have no idea what we talked about but our "conversations" lasted for several minutes.

[Fla Dem]

30. My favorite bird.

I just want to know how he knows where the camera is and how does he know to perform in front of a camera.

[murielm99]

34. He is beautiful.

I am glad to say that we have cardinals in our yard.

[montana_hazeleyes]

35. Stunning! 😍😍😍😍

I love The posters cardinal stories also.

[HUAJIAO]

37. Flaps 15. Landing checklist complete.

[Gore1FL]

38. That's Nolan Arenado on his way to St. Louis. nt

[Beringia]

39. I found the photographer, Lanny Thompson on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212549916563331&set=pb.1246041306.-2207520000..&type=3

He wrote

I'm glad I was able to bring some of these feathery flyers into view where we humans can see it. The shutter speed on this one is over 8,000ths of a second. It's impossible for our eyes and minds to see that just walking around.