Behind the Puddle

The Puddle has been a little quieter lately, so I have been paying closer attention to the smaller visitors who have been making themselves at home around the feeders, trees, and tall grass. Today, what first looked like a mix of birds turned out to be something even sweeter. We appear to have had a little cardinal family spending time around our end of the Puddle.

The bright red visitor was the easiest to recognize. A male Northern Cardinal is difficult to mistake once you catch that beautiful red color, dark face, and sturdy little cardinal bill. Nearby was a much softer-colored bird, warm brown with hints of red in her wings and tail, who appears to be a female cardinal.

Then there was the mystery bird down in the grass.

At first glance, we wondered if we were looking at a robin. The coloring was different enough, and the bird was tucked into the vegetation just enough, to make us question what we were seeing. But after looking more closely, it appears our third visitor was most likely a juvenile cardinal, still wearing the browner, slightly scruffier coloring of a young bird rather than the more recognizable appearance of the adults.

So instead of two cardinals and a robin, we may have been watching three cardinals at three slightly different stages and appearances.

There is something rather lovely about that.

We tend to recognize wildlife by the version we already know. Cardinals are red. Robins have orange breasts. Geese look like geese. But nature is rarely quite that tidy. Young birds look different from their parents. Females may wear quieter colors than males. Seasons change feathers, behavior, and routines, and sometimes the visitor standing right in front of us does not look quite like the picture we have stored in our minds.

Maybe that is part of what makes watching the Puddle so enjoyable. The more closely I pay attention, the more I realize how much I still have to learn about the neighbors who have been here all along.

And apparently, while I was wondering whether the birds were beginning to disappear for the season, one little cardinal family may have simply been quietly carrying on with its day in the grass, the trees, and at the feeder.

The Puddle wasn’t empty after all.

I just needed to look a little closer.