Bird Photography in Michigan winter cardinals

Today we woke to some frigid temperatures, 15 degrees F, and frost on the trees.  The dogs didn’t really want to go outside.  Our Weim has very little hair on his belly and gets cold really easy.

I have been feeding sunflower seeds and the cardinals have been amazing.  I had 9 cardinals at the feeder at one point and I believe there had to be at least a dozen total around.  I planted forage grasses a year and a half ago and they love the seeds from the grasses.  They are on the ground all the time picking up seeds from the plants.  The cardinals have become very wise to the dogs too.  They have a spotter watching the slider door where the dogs come out.

Here are some images that were taken hand held with my 100-400 IS lens this morning through the slider window.  I’ll try to get some better images later, but these turned out very nice.

Enjoy your day!