A tropical storm came through yesterday and did some mild damage in the garden. One large tree limb down and my sunflowers were pretty much destroyed. The sunflowers were big, at least six feet tall, and had been a popular gathering place for small birds, especially the goldfinches.
Today it was mostly overcast and raining intermittently. In the early afternoon there was a lot of activity around the feeder so I tried to capture some of it with my camera. This cardinal sat just long enough in a hydrangea tree for me to shoot a few images. Cardinals are more timid than some of the other small birds and they have difficulty sitting on the small feeder I use. They usually scavenge the fallen seeds in the grass. The hydrangea tree provides a secure place to assess the risk before dropping to the ground.
The photo was taken with a Nikon D7200 using a 200-500 mm lens at 500 mm. f5.6, 1/2000th of a second, ISO 2800.
Monte