Just what trick of evolution……

….resulted in the Northern Cardinal?  I get the whole brightly colored = poison thing, but that doesn’t apply up here as much as it does further south, and you’d think a bird that looks like this:

would be prone to being picked off by predators in the winter.  Afterall they positively GLOW against green pines, dead tree branches, and white snow!
But I guess not, there’s currently 5 males and at least 3 females sitting in the front pine tree.