Cardinal at Breakfast on a Cold Morning

When I got up and checked the temperature first thing on Monday morning, the outdoor thermometer read 14 degrees F. It dropped another degree or two in the following hour, and I think it was about 12 when I caught my bus to work.

We'd had a little snow over the weekend, and I was hoping to get some photos of campus covered in the white stuff. On bus mornings, there are usually two choices: breakfast downtown, or pictures. Not usually both. On this 12-degree morning, I chose pictures!

I was walking along near Old Main, when I spotted some bushes with red berries on them. I stood there thinking for a minute about where I'd stand to get a good shot of Old Main with those berries in the foreground, when I suddenly noticed a larger splash of red in those bushes: a male cardinal!

So I steadied my hand and started shooting. But I'd just gotten a battery warning a minute or two before. (Apparently 12 degrees is tough on batteries!) The bad news is that when the battery starts to fade, the focus starts to get muddy on long zoom shots.

I could tell all I was getting in my pictures was a big red fuzzy blob instead of a bird. So with a sigh, I stepped back a few feet, turned away from the bird, and changed my battery. NOW I was ready for bird photos!

And when I turned back around, wonder of wonders, the cardinal was still there. Even better, I discovered he'd brought the missus: a lovely female cardinal, with colors more muted than the male's, was snacking nearby. What a beautiful pair they made.

It felt as though the Universe  had handed me an opportunity: girl, do you have five minutes to stand and watch some pretty birds on this cold, cold morning? And my heart and my hands said YES! Yes, yes, yes!

So I stood there and took about 40 shots of the two birds enjoying their breakfast, with Old Main in the background. In this shot, the male cardinal is eyeing up that pretty red berry to the left; in the next instant, he ate it!

It was only because I stopped and took the time to change my camera battery that I got any decent bird shots at all. Sometimes the creatures don't stay still long enough for a camera change, but I'm very glad that this one did!

Let's let my soundtrack song be a dedication to those photographers who take the time to stop to change the battery, and to the birds who are so intent on breakfast that they wait around long enough to be photographed: Guns N' Roses, with Patience.