During the rain today the female cardinal came chipping her way to my office window feeder several times. Each visit, I paid her the courtesy of stopping whatever I was doing and just watched her. While she doesn't eat her sunflower seeds with any particular grace, her peach-pink-orange bill is stunning, and her brownish, drab feathers are highlighted by rouge-red ones that catch the eye like lipstick transforming a plain face into a pretty one. The male cardinal has many admirers, but while the female might not be as flashy as he is, she deserves praise for the subtle way she wears her beauty.

Take a few moments
to watch the cardinal: beauty
comes in many forms.