Cardinals on a Windy Day

February 18th was a very windy day (gusts of up to 30 mph) here in Lansing, and I just wanted to share the amusing photos I took of cardinals at the feeders that day.

Those crests must be a real nuisance on windy days like that...

The cardinal in the background later chased away the junco, seemingly because
its feet could obviously get a better purchase on the wood than they could on the
packed snow on top of the feeder. 

The wind was shifting all the time.   In this photo, the wind was blowing from the North
instead of from the East as it is in the rest of the photos.

Every time I look at these photos they just look wrong.  This cardinal's tail was at almost
a 90° angle from its body.  The reason is that at this point, the wind was so strong
that the cardinal was nearly being toppled over!  This was his ingenious and rather amusing
solution to the dilemma. 

Here's a bonus—a look at the black downy feathers of a Dark-eyed Junco!   I took
this photo on the same windy day as the cardinals, 18 Feb.