The female caught my attention first. While focusing on Violets blooming pondside, I heard her loud chipping, turned, and found her perched on top of the thorny Barberries! She took off at the sight of my 300mm lens, but I caught up with her again in the shared bed where I found her flitting about with an old, bleached-pale leaf firmly clenched in her beak.
When she headed back toward the Barberries with the leaf, her mate zipped by, chipping loudly with alarm at my interruption of their work. He landed in the pondside Japanese Maple among its tiny, tender new leaves; and I watched him while he watched her. Nesting Northern Cardinals grace us with their beautiful presence every spring, and our thankfulness abounds!
I praise you, Lord, for another spring with nesting Northern Cardinals to watch.
