Broke my heart today... when I found this...

[Silo]

out on the street out the back of my yard. I had noticed the Cardinal had been  missing
since yesterday.... must have been hit by a car, what a shame!
It's the third year that he has nested in my back yard, he was so tame he'd hang around
while I filled the feeder, kinda giving me the "c'mon and hurry it up" look... darn.

That is sad.. there pretty rare around here too. I have had only 2 come to my yard sence I started to put bird seed out. You know one thing tho.... there MEAN, pretty but mean.

[Gene_SC]

That is sad Roald........ Since I have put out my bird feeders and bird houses, we get several Cardinals that feed every morning.. I love to sit in our sunroom with binoculars and watch them.. They are so bright and pretty.. They look really pretty in the trees against the green foilage..

Gene

[shadow]

Yes, that's one of my DONT shoot bird's. Out here the wifes got about a dozen of them that come in everyday. I like those colorful bird's, they brighten up my yard. Ed

[Big_Bill]

That is sad Roald,

I look forward each spring for the cardinals to return to our feeders.

[CharlieDaTuna]

Yes, that is one bird that we have a lot of around here. They are soooo pretty. Even the females have quite a bit of color in them.

 I have about an acre fairly wooded area and keep a good part of it natural and we do have a decent variety of birds. When I first built our house about 12 years ago, the first years we lived here we had 37 species of birds, Possums', Rabbits, Squirrels, Fox, Deer, Chippies, several species of snakes...all kinds of critters. It was a real pleasure to set out on our back screen porch and enjoy the surrounding wild life. It's so built up now that nearly everything is gone and I gotta tell ya guys....  my wife and I really miss the wild life. And the only thing that has ever been shot here is squirrels.

[Rixtrix]

So Sorry, Roald. They do brighten your day. They're one thing I miss since moving from Nebraska to Phoenix 22 years ago. Few birds here, Grackles , starlings, finches, pigeons, hawks here on the edge of town, a few ducks( mallard and wood), but few songbirds. Occassionally see a few hummingbirds if it's been a rainy Spring.

Ric G

[JMG]

Roald that truly is a bummer. Our next door neighbor's an elderly couple have bird feeders in there back yard. And usually on the weekends when I am shootin in my backyard in the mornings, I will see a cardinal or 2. Whats really cool about them is that they are such a contrast to all the earth tone birds here in Texas. Mostly Browns blacks and greys on the birds here. I have an idea Roald. I was reading on the Texas state wildlife pages earlier and apparently cowbirds are pests here in this state. I think you Dan and I should go and hunt some of these buggers down since they are supposedly one of the reasons for the decline of songbirds in our state.

John

[patton123]

88....mean because there territorial.

[Silo]

JMG - 4/13/2007  11:42 PM
I think you Dan and I should go and hunt some of these buggers down since they are supposedly one of the reasons for the decline of songbirds in our state.

John

I agree, great idea.... so when do we do this? Dan's up in our neck of the woods on the 21st, do you know of any
good spots to go cow bird tipping ?
Let me know / Count me in.

[JMG]

I sure dont bud but I am thinking if we put our minds to it we could find them critters and a good place to shoot em. Dan had talked to me about the 21'st, I am interested but since my Beeman is down and the B26-2 is unshootable until I get some risers for it all I will be able to bring is my B3 hehe.

John

Sad news indeed Silo,

The bright side is that it shouldn’t take long for another male Cardinal to take over the old ones territory. Back when I was a banding birds, I banded over two hundred Cardinals in a single year in the back yard. Baby Cardinals have to find a place to make a  living, and if your yard was good enough for daddy, jr will find  it pleasing also.

Glenn

[Silo]

Thanks Glenn, well that's positive news. I'm just concerned that the female is sitting on eggs already and
might give up on them if he fails to show up. Well she might lucky and pick up a new guy I suppose hehe!

[Silo]

I PM'ed you.... if all else fails I could loan you my stock CFX to play with for the day?
It's totally stock but shoots great, if you don't mind the twang hehe!
Rich is sending me a complete tune kit for it later this week. Maybe I can get it serviced
/ tuned before the weekend of the 21st.

The female shouldn’t give up it’s nest just because her mate is gone. If a predator was to get the eggs, she might abandon the nest and find a better (hopefully) place to nest.

Glenn