Bathing cardinal worthy of second look

The December/January issue of National Wildlife magazine is out, and it's a beaut. If you get a chance to pick it up, do so. 

It contains a collection of photographs you simply must see. They were taken by Laura Williams on Russia's snowy Kamchatka Peninsula. The subject: the stunning and vulnerable Steller's Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), one of the world's largest birds of prey. We see it walking on ice, flying after one another, tearing into salmon. Incredible. 

But that's not all. The issue also presents the winners of NWF's most recent photo contest. There are several good bird shots here -- a Brown Booby viewed from underwater; a singing Red-winged Blackbird, its breath visible as three puffs in the clear, chilly air; an Eastern Bluebird puffed up on barbed wire; and one that should look very familiar to Birder's World readers. 

It's a fabulous shot, taken by Robert Strickland in his backyard in Beverly Hills, Florida. It shows a vivid red Northern Cardinal enjoying a bath in a vivid blue basin. We published it in "Your View" in August 2007 (below). Now it's a contest winner. It took first place in the Backyard Habitats, Amateur, category. Congratulations, Robert! --C.H.