January 19th 2011    Tim Candler

    Cardinals become ardent quickly.  This is especially true of male Cardinals born last year.  I'd think of them as young males, full of practice.  Just so thrilled with their red feathers at last.

    On a day when temperature rises enough to smell earth, young males suddenly think it springtime.   They'll startle the rest of us by deciding to sing as they do in summer.   And when they do the rest of us feel warmer, and we all smile and we all say "what a good boy!".

     Such a shame then to watch a Cardinal throw himself at the window pane.  He can knock himself out.  Lie there a moment and in winter a person might believe it a suicide.   Which is a dour and gloomy portent for those of us who have been foolish.

    And probably you would reckon his lesson learned because older male Cardinals have lived for fifteen years.   But not at all, he'll do it again. 

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