The northern cardinal, a North American songbird of medium size, is easily one of the most well-known birds who are native to North America, and I believe that this status is justifiable; the feathers of the adult male northern cardinal are an unrealistically-vibrant crimson, although the female is also rather beautiful, regardless of the earthiness of her coloration. Of course, the appearance is not the limit of the beauty of Cardinalis cardinalis, for his and her songs are commonly declared to be quite listenable; despite their simplicities, they are very musical and pleasant; to anyone who has not recognised the songs of the likable songbird, I, as a result of this, recommend the act of listening to his song.



The twenty-seventh day of March of 2019 was a day on which I was searching for common grackles (Quiscali quiscali) of a moderately tame disposition, and, while I did discover several colonies of the handsome birds, I was incapable of nearing one sufficiently to create a photograph which was worthy of being developed. Although I did attempt to appropinquate a small group whose members resided on a section of ground which was located beside a feeder at half of its capacity, my efforts were interrupted when I heard the song of a male northern cardinal and calmly began attempting to approach him, and, although I was initially uncertain of his specific position, this was revealed to me when I caught with my peripheral vision the brilliant garb of the male, who was hiding underneath the branches of a coniferous tree, and, though I had correctly assumed that the creation of a decent photograph which featured him in this location would be difficult, I captured several photographs, and, while these do display behaviour which is mildly interesting, a clear view of him was obscured by several of the branches of a bush, although this was only true for a limited amount of time, because he eventually fled to a place which was in a closer proximity to the trunk of the aforementioned tree. My patience was again helpful, because I waited, occasionally viewing the lousy photographs which I had recently shot, for his return, and with his wife he did eventually become again visible, and, on this occasion, he perched atop a branch which was not obstructed by any significant objects; I could therefore likely return to my residence with a photograph which could be developed with few ill effects! Wishing to seize this opportunity, I slowly raised my camera to a height at which it could be used and executed my intentions, for the photograph about which this description was written is easily of an acceptable quality.



As always, constructive criticism pertaining to this photograph, my writing, or any of my other photographs would be joyfully received by me, because I rather strongly wish to improve the quality of my photography. The sugar-coating of criticism directed at my creations, or even me as a person, is unnecessary, and it often simply causes the man who criticised my work to appear to have been uncertain about the legitimacy of the criticism which he gave to me. Although I attempt to extract everything which is beneficial for me from every situation in which I am involved, the lack of confidence which is displayed by those who vigorously attempt to remove any offensiveness from their criticisms leads to my suspicion of the lack of advice which would affect my creations positively. Please verbosely explain to me any flaws which are present in this photograph and were directly caused by me, e.g., clipping highlights or shadows, if they are noticed.