Northern Cardinal on the CBC

Today our Hampshire Bird Club held its annual Christmas Bird Count, organized throughout North America by the Audubon Society. Several dozen small groups counted birds in assigned territories in our local area; three of us were responsible for a portion of Amherst, Mass. This male cardinal was around the bird feeder established by the leader of our little group, and I captured it through his rainy window as we ate our quick lunch.  Unfortunately it had snowed the previous day, and intermittent rain continued today, with a good deal of fog; the extra gives a rather romantic idea of what we struggled with in a practical sense. (The map shows the location of the extra, at Puffers Pond.)  

The CBC has a personal significance for us, in that Geoff LeBaron, who is the HBC's program chairman, directs the overall count for National Audubon, working from his home in nearby Williamsburg.