Riding Out The Storm

I'm not a regular or any way good bird photographer (though I sometimes try 😉) but wow, I'm in awe of this photo! 
Based in Europe, I'd never heard of or seen the 'Cardinal' before.
I of course love the color and sharp detail you've brought out at 600m.

But I especially like the 'story' that this photo tells wonderfully: a beautiful songbird battling wind, snow and freezing conditions. Even its 'body language' (head down, body low) is completely consistent with 'the story'!

I've spent some 15 minutes being absolutely entranced by this photo! Thanks too, for including the ISO data. It's just nice to see the focal length and settings you used to capture this.

FWIW, the longer I look at this photo and let 'the story' sink in, the more I can imagine some kind of 'symbolic' association with the photo. In the sense that sometimes you just have to do your best to 'weather the storm' (or get through unfavourable conditions).

For me, this photo is 'technically excellent' (color, sharpness, focus, DOF, etc.) but more importantly it tells a story, has drama and 'action' (snow and weathering it).

Many thanks for sharing this!
Mike