Northern Cardinal: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — We woke yesterday to trees glistening with frozen rain after maybe 3 inches of snow on Saturday. Right at first light our neighborhood male Cardinal was under the pines and up in the glistening branches…too far away and still too dark for a photograph. As the sun got up, I bundled up and spent an enchanted hour or more photographing birds…bluebirds, robins, goldfinches and even the Carolina Wren…in the back yard among the icy branches…but I kept hearing the siren call of the Cardinals somewhere out there in the larger neighborhood and eventually it was too much. I went walkabout with my camera. I went around our local blocks many times. I could hear the Cardinals calling but wherever I went, by the time I got there, the Cardinals were somewhere else. Finally I traced them to some tall trees a few corners over from our house. They were close. I could hear them but I just could not see them. And then the male popped out of a hedge of evergreens right in front of me, right at eye-level, way lower than I was expecting from the calls. Alright! A gift pure and simple. I took way too many photos. This is not necessarily the best one…I have many I will keep…but the one I chose this morning. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.