Bird on a Wire - It's Windy Up There!

After nearly a month on the shelf, Hoot Owl Karma headed east for a wild weekend! 

Saturday sunrise comes with brilliant skies but a chilly breeze off Bogue Sound. This male Northern Cardinal boldly sings with his back to the blast; bowed but not broken.

When his audience changes venues, he bravely turns to face the frigid current.

Alas, the feather furling flow proves relentless, and this high wire act tries yet another tack...

This angle seems to be working pretty well, it appears the insulator may be doubling as an amplifier as well.

With our eyes on the sky, another bird on a wire we spy...

Nature's Palliative Palette - Scarlet

The northern cardinal is without doubt one of the most familiar North American songbirds. A Google search for cardinal bird yields more than 150,000,000 hits, an indicator of this bird's near-universal appeal and the wealth of readily available information related to it.

Common and familiar though it may be, whenever I encounter images of nature's brilliantly clad birds from around the world, thoughts of the northern cardinal bring me right back home. 

For, though the panoply of fantastic blues and greens and yellows adorning the inhabitants of some exotic locale can be absolutely breath-taking, the scarlet clad crooner perched by the feeder out back  can hold its own with them all in my eyes. 

Poets and philosophers have long attested to nature's palliative powers; soothing the cares of the day, easing life's burdens in some small way. For all their skill with words and eloquent elocutions, the wordsmiths might do well to pause in silent contemplation when confronted by nature colored thus...

Peace, my friend.