What ISO are you shooting at? If possible try to shoot at ISO 200 for as much detail and sharpness as possible. Are you shooting in manual mode or auto? You could try a higher f-stop for more detail, but of course you will need more light. I am a manual focus guy for all of my photos, especially for birds. Give it a try, you may or may not like it.

A 3 for a rating is a bit harsh. Cardinals are very hard to get a good photograph of, they are extremely shy birds. The photo could be alot sharper and have better exposure and I would have given it an 8. Still all in all not a bad photo of a cardinal.

I will agree. If the shot was sharper this would help a lot. I know you have to be quick when photographing birds.

Thanx guys I agree, I can't seem to get my pics as sharp as I would like. Any help appreciated. I tried to lighten it but it distorted the pic so I left it a little dark.

The ISO was 800 way too fast. That helps alot. f-stop was 5.6 1/1600 shutter priority. I try to manual focus as much as possible to get better at it but this was auto. Was getting frustrated with the sharpness. Thank you so much!