Very nice photo.First of all lemme congratulate you for your patience.I have also been trying to take a picture of the male cardinal which is very difficult as u said.They sit on a tree right outside my balcony.Unlike you i dont have a lot of bird feeders.I have only one hung in my balcony and no visitors yet.I was just googling for some techniques to photograph the cardinal and then i stumbled upon your blog.Just wanted to say the photo is really nice.Goodluck on the male cardinal.

Bye bye