Winter came back here in Iowa last night and a fresh layer of snow covers the ground again. Daylight saving time went into effect Sunday night and the only good thing about itis the extra hour of daylight that extends the shooting time with the camera after work. The cold temperatures and snow cover drive the birds to the feeders in larger numbers and tonight we had several Northern Cardinals visiting us. The cardinals are very shy and quite often don’t come down from the higher branches if I stand with my tripod on the front porch. The weather made them obviously a little braver and I had my chance to make a few clicks. The only way to make this photo was to use flash fill for some color, but this actually collides with the fact that there were always some little twigs between the camera and the bird. Their shadows were projected onto the feathers and put this shot into mediocrity. I didn’t pay attention to this little detail and saw it only later on the computer screen. No, the world doesn’t come to end for me because it is important to practice as much as possible and having a Northern Cardinal in front of my lens doesn’t happen every day… 😊