Northern Cardinal, male
Cardinalis cardinalis
Northern Cardinal · Green-Wood Cemetery · 16 February 2026
A male cardinal in a Brooklyn cemetery in February, fluffed into a near-perfect ball against the cold. Cardinals are birds of thicket and woodland edge across the eastern United States, and they stay put all winter rather than migrate, which is why this is the one red thing in a snowbound wood.
The puffing is the insulation. Trapped air between the feathers is what keeps a bird warm, and fluffing up thickens the layer at no cost, which is why a cardinal looks noticeably fatter on a freezing morning than in summer.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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