Monday, February 18, 2013

a CONCLAVE of CARDINALS

WELL, OK, NOT EXACTLY… but there were quite a few out there this morning in the sun, having breakfast. AT one point I counted 7 males on the feeders or waiting their turn in the Redbud, but could only get 6 in one shot. It seemed one was always in flight as I snapped the picture.  Now if you look real closely and count females, how many cardinals can you find?

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6 comments:

troutbirder said...

I am wondering what the secret is to having so many. Here we're lucky to have one or two....

possum said...

One reader informed me by email that a conclave of cardinals was for the Catholic Church cardinals only... However, this is not so.
The Northern Cardinal can live up to 15 years in the wild.
It is the state bird of seven states-Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. No other bird holds this distinction.
Males that have a brighter red color appear to feed at higher rates and have greater reproductive success than males that are duller in color.
A group of cardinals has many collective nouns, including a "college", "conclave", "deck",
"radiance", and "Vatican" of cardinals.

And MY secret is FOOD! LOL!
Try safflour seed. Not a favorite of squirrels, it seems to be a favorite of cardinals, titmice, finches, chickadees, and my collection of redbreasted nuthatches. There are 8 feeders close to each other so they do not need to share a feeder.

ancient one said...

I didn't even attempt to count them... You have a bunch... They are my favorite bird. I loved your comment to my dollar bill post!!

J C said...

What an awesome thing Possum! I have never seen so many together at once. Lucky you, and great shot! Here, I get groups/herds/coveys/flocks/(lol)/lots of...Ibis, Wood Stork (off endangered list now) :), and scads and scads of crowsand hawks. My entire county is a bird sanctuary, and I love that.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

And such a catchy title too and they all sport the same color too.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

I would enjoy watching your conclave of cardinals rather than the one in Rome. Our news media seem to be obsessed with it. This may because we have a Cardinal in the running from a small town in Quebec a very Catholic part of Canada where most have abandoned the church.