Strikingly Beautiful Birds - Cardinals

It seems appropriate to start a post on this special and beloved bird with a poem. Here is the first stanza of a poem by William Davis Gallagher written in the 19th century.

The Cardinal Bird

A day and then a week passed by:
  The redbird hanging from the sill
Sang not; and all were wondering why
It was so still—
When one bright morning, loud and clear,
Its whistle smote my drowsy ear,
Ten times repeated, till the sound
Filled every echoing niche around;
And all things earliest loved by me,—
The bird, the brook, the flower, the tree,—
Came back again, as thus I heard
    The cardinal bird.

- See more at: http://allpoetry.com/The-Cardinal-Bird#sthash.4xnbsY2t.dpuf

Now some beautiful pictures of Cardinals - keep the poem in the back of your mind as you view these images beginning with Audubon and the Northern Cardinal of North America.


Audubon: Cardinal
John James Audubon






Female Northern Cardinal in Snowy Pine Tree
Adam Jones







Male Cardinal With Wings Spread
Wendy Kaveney





Red Crested Cardinal
F.w. Frohawk





Dominican Cardinal
F.w. Frohawk





Green Cardinal
F.w. Frohawk





Yellow Billed Cardinal
F.w. Frohawk







Northern Cardinal Female on Snowy Ground
Tom Vezo/Minden...





A Touch of Red
Kevin Daniel







Male Northern Cardinal among Crabapple Blossoms
Adam Jones