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This is Bernie. He's a cardinal, named after Cardinal Bernard Law of the Archdiocese of Boston. And he's named Bernie because I can now say "Bernie the Birdie" without feeling too foolish. Well, sorta.
Bernie moved in for a few days a few weeks ago. He announced his presence at 5 AM, loudly tweeting and squawking at the front window. Of course, Sedgwick was on the windowsill doing his best yappy chihuahua imitation (Sedg barks at birds), so between Bernie and the cat, I felt like I was in some demented pet menagerie. It got so bad after day two (and it was tweeting and squawking all day long, mind you), that I went outside in my pajamas and tried to shoo him away. Instead Bernie pecked me. The little bugger. He would just not leave!
The next day was a huge rainstorm, and he was still out there, his little crest all fallen from the rain, complaining away. I went outside again and that is when I heard the additional chirps. Turns out there was a nest in the Japanese maple right in front of my window and Bernie was just being the protective father. Understandable but still annoying as all hell.
I finally took the camera outside. This was taken without a zoom. He would sit right next to you. I watched him fly to the sidewalk with a grape in his mouth (from the Portuguese neighbors, of course), smoosh it to a pulpy mass and put in back into his beak, fly to the nest and then feed the little ones.
A few days later they (Bernie, Bernadette and the two little ones) left. I haven't seen them since, but there seem to be lots of cardinals years round, so I am sure they haven't gone too far. At least he's not waking me up at 5 AM anymore. |
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09/24/2008 10:14 AM |
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