Cardinals and the celebration of Christmas

In eight days time it will be Christmas day. During this holiday, the likeness of male Northern cardinals are often seen in images on an array of items such as greeting cards, serving dishes, gift wrap, napkins, guest towels, kitchen towels, potholders, — the list seems endless.

Moreover, this bird type's likeness has been rendered into holiday brooches, Christmas tree ornaments and figurines. An example of the latter is featured in the image atop this entry.

I have read many articles and social media posts on the connection between the Northern cardinal and the Christmas holiday, including a blog entry by Karen Harvey Cox that states (re the coloring of a male Northern cardinal), the "bright red to remind us of Christ during the dreary gray days of winter ahead."

In her post, Cox also includes a quotation that proclaims:"Christened the Christmas bird for its spectacular red color, the cardinal has become a symbol of the beauty and warmth of the holiday season. A glimpse of this brilliant bird brings cheer, hope and inspiration on a gray, wintry day. As nature's reminder for us to focus on our faith, the cardinal's scarlet plumage represents the blood of Christ shed for the redemption of mankind."

The description is similar to what many writers state about the male Northern cardinal's association with Christmas, but I find it limiting. This is because thoughts like this only apply to those who live in parts of the world where Christmas occurs during a dreary winter season. In a number of places, Christmas is occurring during summer time, where folks might not be dreaming of a white Christmas with every Christmas card they write.

Be that as it may, the male cardinal is associated with Christmas and his likeness is rendered into an array of merchandize as I have described. This fact is one of the things that ruffles the feathers (as evidenced in the images below) of Cam, the female cardinal who visits my urban garden in NYC.

CAM THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

CAM THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

In her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One, Cam states: "I have been known to sing to raise awareness for certain causes; perhaps this is because as a female cardinal, folks often dismiss me due to my so-called 'dull coloring' and focus on the bright red males, even choosing their likeness to create figurines and stuffed animals. I've never seen either of these things rendered in the likeness of a female cardinal’s image, which I think is discriminatory!" 

Christmas and cardinals is a topic that Cam touches on ever so briefly in her narrative but her book still makes an excellent gift for the holiday. I've posted an image of each version of Words In Our Beak Volume One below. If you click on the link below anyone of them, you will be led to purchase info.

SEE PRESS RELEASE

SOFTCOVER

ePUB (KINDLE)

iBOOKS (APPLE DEVICES)

Any version of her book so make a great gift for a non-holiday too, please read her press release (by clicking here) for more details.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The digital versions of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of volume one, two and three can now be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.

This was followed by an ePub version...

... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.

Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....

... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.