The first serious rain in months last night. All the birds and squirrels were on duty this morning, so I assume they weathered the storm. The cameras caught Mr. Cardinal taking a long bath, about three minutes. That’s pretty long for a bird to stay in the water. The videos are below. WordPress (or the webhost) wouldn’t let me upload the three minute version, so the separate files are provided.

The other video was Mrs. Cardinal bathing  as a White-throated Sparrow waited, perched on the bath rim. As she left, he hopped in.

There’s been a lot more bathing than usual the last few days. I wonder if it has something to do with the baths getting leaves and twigs in them, and after last night, a good dose of rain water. Maybe the tap water chemicals puts them off. That calls for some research.

Three videos of Mr. Cardinal bathing:

Mrs. Cardinal and the White-throated Sparrow bathing: