Photographer Scott Taylor caught an 'angry bird' in real life. His camera captured a moment in which a cardinal’s wings were tucked tightly into its body, making the bird look like a fluffy red ball floating in midair.
Finally captured my holy grail! This extraordinarily rare yellow cardinal lives in a natural area that is literally 5 minutes from my old apartment and it took me MONTHS to finally get a good look at him, like one week before I moved out. I was out searching for this handsome bastard nearly every weekend, driving myself mad trying to get a photo of him, until finally he deigned to flit down right in front of me and pose AND he let me excitedly call over some nearby kids to share in the moment before he flew off. Couldn’t stop smiling.
This one-in-a-million mutation (called xanthochromism) occurs when the male cardinal lacks an enzyme responsible for converting yellow pigments in their food into the typical red of their feathers. I am a bit obsessed with the genetics of color and pattern mutations in wildlife and finally seeing this little dude up close was worth the wait.
and since I knew things would thaw later, I got up really early. I was rewarded with sights of the new pretty Cardinal lady. She has so much red on her. She is in the first and second to last photo. A male and another, less vibrant female, are in the other photos. I love the color combination of the female Cardinals, they are such elegant beauties.