This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

June 20, 2011
Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

Everything is new to the baby cardinals, who came for the first time to the porch today. They fly at the hanging feeders but haven't figured out quite how to land on them. Most of what they eat gets plunked into their beaks by their parents.

They barely look like cardinals yet. Bills are still grey and won't turn orange for a couple of months. Feathers look soft, like baby clothes, which is what they are. And the crest is at this point only an impulse.

—Diane Porter

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