Female Northern Cardinal. Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, Cape May NJ

There is a slightly funny story about the female Cardinal shot from Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in Cape May, New Jersey. It was still fairly early in the morning, as you can see by the angle of the light, and I was taking a second turn around the meadows at Higbee. I heard the Cardinal chipping in the brush beside the path, and was busy photographing it, when I heard something crashing through the brush and trees behind me. I turned slightly, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk burst out of the foliage, below my eye-level, and shot up and across the path about a foot from my head…after my Cardinal. I ducked, and the Cardinal apparently did too, because the Sharpy landed in a tree just beyond without any prey. So, of course, I took pictures of it. Fair play. it scared off my subject…it became my subject!

This shot, despite the drama, shows off just how sharp the Nikon P610 is at full zoom in ideal light. 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.