About a week ago, I came across a cardinal nest with 4 brand new hatchlings in one of my rose bushes. Their mama and papa are always close so I thought I would start a little photo diary while they raise their new additions. I didn't take too many shots of the babies because I don't want to stress out the parents and disturb nature so most of these shots are with my telephoto lens from a distance and mainly of the parents for now.

Sadly, nature can be really cruel and since I had started this series a week ago, only one hatchling remains. My guess is that either a bluejay or squirrel has found their nest. Even with the disappearances, the mama has been very calm around me and Bella (my pug). I've even included some shots of Bella helping me look for the missing babies. The mama must think we are are keeping away other predators while we're around. She hops up to us with curiosity and sings so this is why I have more shots of her than the more skittish papa. I really want to get them a bird house to protect the remaining fledgling but I've read that cardinals would not use them so I'm crossing my fingers that the last one will survive. I'll try to keep this blog updated as time goes by.

The following images were shot with the following: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 50mm f/1.4 and Canon 72-200mm f/2.4.

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