The Cardinal - One of Our Most Beautiful Birds
Named for Its Similarity to the Robes of the Roman Catholic Cardinal
Long ago prized as caged songbirds, Northern Red Cardinals are non-migratory, although their range has expanded over the last 100 years. It was a native bird only in the southern U.S. until climate change encour- aged their moves into New England and the Great Lakes region in the 1950s. In the 1800s, many Cardinals were live-trapped throughout the South for export to Europe. This trade eventually ceased with the pass- age of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
Body Markings
The Red Cardinal is a medium to large bird about 8-9 inches long, weighing about 1¾ ounces, with a wing span of 10-12 inches. The male’s body coloring ranges from a dull red hue to a brilliant dark red, with a distinct black face and bib surrounding a conical red bill. All cardinals have dark pink legs and feet. The paler males are thought to possibly have poorer diets. The males with the deepest red colors have been documented to feed at higher rates, claim the most densely vegetated territories, and have greater reproductive success than their duller-colored counterparts.
Juvenile Northern Cardinals have smaller crests than adults and are a dark mousy brown with light underbodies and cinnamon tails. Sometimes mistaken for Cedar Waxwings whose range overlaps, the juveniles have no black on their faces like waxwings; the young males get black faces only when maturing enough to turn red. The female cardinal is also a drab brown with a more variegated shading on her back than the juvenile and a buff-colored underbody.
Distinctive Calls
Adults make short, chipping calls when they approach their nests or other familiar territory like feeders. These calls become very loud and agitated if there is an intruder nearby. Their clear whistle-songs are strong and variable, from loud early morning calls to afternoon woodland medleys of “me an’ you, me an’ you”.
Both genders are prolific songbirds, with the male’s calls being more frequently interpreted as practical calls for food, danger, and mating, while the female may answer, and often sing longer and more complex songs than the male. Some claim that Cardinal songs are learned rather than uttered instinctively and support their theories with evidence of regional differences in the species. Others suggest that males may sing similar songs as the females and that different songs between the sexes are actually due to hormones rather than learning.
Diet and Behavior
One of the most popular birds at backyard feeding stations, the Cardinal’s diet consists primarily of seeds, fruit, and some insects. They visit feeders for sunflower seeds and raisins, also eating wild grapes and berries throughout their range, including dogwood fruit, holly berries, black berries, and raspberries. Even those putting out seed for the first time could be rewarded with the appearance of this dazzling, bright red, crested bird.
Cardinals normally nest relatively low to the ground like Robins, in thick shrubs and conifers, and generally close to their feeding areas. If near residential feeding stations, this may put their young at risk of local cats. Cardinals like open lawn areas and swamps, and areas bordering woodlands and forests.
Ferociously territorial regarding other males, feeders near sliding glass doors or large windows can prove dangerous for Cardinals, which have been known to fly at and attack their own reflections, hurting or killing themselves. For this reason, naturalists suggest that residents protect Cardinals visiting their feeders by using thin metallic tape strips on their large glass windows and doors.
Northern Red Cardinal
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Northern Red Cardinal in Tree
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