Record shot of Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) - Cranbrook, BC

            This may be a very common bird to many but not to us British Columbians. It is the first official record for the province, as it has already been accepted by the BC Bird Records Committee.

Alberta has quite a few records, including breeding records and Cranbrook isn't too far away from the Alberta border.

I never thought I would drive 10hrs each way to see a Northern Cardinal because I have seen so many but of course I had to! LOL

I drove those long hours through many snowy mountain passes to see this bird in Cranbrook. I would do it again in a heartbeat because along the way there were many cool birds to see: Black-backed Woodpeckers, Chukar, Bohemian Waxwings, Rough-legged Hawks, Blue Jays, Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks and Wild Turkeys, just to name a few. The snowy landscape was a gorgeous winter wonderland and it was nice to get away from the city. I have driven this road often in winter coming back from the Prairies and this is probably the best shape I have seen it in. Although Kootenay Pass was true to her mixed bag (fog, snow, black ice, blinding snow) that she's famous for. A couple days ago she was closed for 4 hours, so I was lucky it was just typical winter driving through our highest mountain pass. Last May I drove through it to go to Creston and it was snowing then. You just never know what you will get when you cross it.

If you think I am crazy for driving this far for a bird, my friend who is a winter lister has already driven to see it twice and will do so for each month until it departs. This means if it stays until April, he will spend 120 hours on the road just to see this bird. 

Yep some Birders (including myself) are nuts :).
 
This bird was found by two lovely people, Greg Ross and Katrin Powell who could not have been more accommodating to all the visiting birders. I thank them for opening their property to us and inviting me for dinner.

This Cardinal is the 415th bird I have seen in the province of BC.

Taken on: December 3, 2017

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BC's first Cardinal

First Confirmed Record for BC

Northern Cardinal

Cranbrook

Female

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Cardinalis cardinalis

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415th bird

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1st record

1st confirmed record

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Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, 400mm, ISO 1250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	400mm
ISO:	1250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.4 (Windows)
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