Shoot the Cardinal

It's Spring, here in North Alabama, so the birds have other things on their minds and you can get pretty close sometimes.  A pair of northern cardinals landed in the black walnut that dominates the overlook at Monte Sano State Park.  I was already set up to silhouette the tree at sunrise so it was simple to zoom in on the bird, crank up the ISO and shoot the cardinal. 

By the way, this happens on a regular basis but getting a good silhouette is luck.  A month ago, a barred owl flew into this situation but he melted into a big branch. Now that would have been a cool shot. 

Nikon D7500 — Nikon 18-300mm F6.3 ED VR

300mm

F8@1/250th

ISO 2,000

Cropped

DSB_4663.JPG

©Don Brown 2026