The Cardinal's Nest

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) were called "Redbirds" where I grew up. It is also known as the Virginia nightingale. It is a Christmas symbol and ranges (in the north) from southern Canada and south to northern Guatemala and Belize. It inhabits forest edges, thickets, gardens, backyards, shrubby areas and orchards.

The bright red male Cardinal is so beautiful and has such a lovely song that it was once trapped and sold as a caged song bird. This practice stopped when its sale as a cage bird was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Listen to the Song of the Northern Cardinal from the National Park Service

The male's crest, black mask and bright orange beak set him apart from other birds. The more demure females are not as colorful, but are beautiful in their own right with their feathers of tan, brown and touches of red. Their beaks are also orange. Young birds have dark beaks until their first molt. Cardinals are medium sized birds measuring 8.3 to 9 inches.

Orignal Watercolor Print of Mother Cardinal on Nest by naturegirl7

Males are territorial during the breeding season and can be seen and heard singing from a prominent spot in their territory.

During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female. She will often flutter her wings and beg like a chick.

After the courtship is over, the female builds a nest of twigs, vines, some leaves, bark strips, grasses, weed stalks, rootlets and lined with fine grasses in a thorny bush, thicket, bramble or in a dense shrub or tree. Three to four eggs (somewhat glossy, grayish, bluish, greenish white and spotted or blotched with browns, grays, or purples) are laid. The female may delay egg laying as long as 6 days after nest completion. There are normally two to three broods each year. The female incubates the eggs for 11-13 days.

When they hatch out, the chicks are blind, helpless and have a little fuzz covering their bodies, but they grow quickly.

The chicks fledge in 7-13 days, but the male continues to feed the fledglings while the female builds a second nest. When the baby Cardinals leave the nest, they look almost "prehistoric" and much to immature to have fledged. They hide in bushes for the first few days and the parent (or parents) feeds them.

The male Cardinal continues to feed the young even after they have grown almost as large as he is. This male was caring for a young female and a young male. The young male was already beginning to moult into his adult plumage.

This year the Northern Cardinals have had many successful nests, so there are several immature ones at each sunflower seed feeder. Several of the pairs are on their third brood. You can tell when Cardinals are on their last brood when you see both the adult male and the female feeding the young. On the first and second broods, the male feeds the fledglings while the female builds the nest, lays and incubates the eggs and feeds the young while they are in the nest.

During summer and fall the young birds go through their first molt. The male and female colors (however mottled) begin to show and the dark beaks begin to turn orange.

After the breeding season is over and the last of the young are able to feed themselves, the adults look a little ragged. They begin their fall moult and by winter have a new set of feathers so that they will be well insulated against the cold weather.

Winter Cardinals are bright, crisp and fresh looking. The male's beautiful colors help him establish a good territory in order to attract a prospective mate. In early Spring the whole cycle begins again.

Habitat - Shelter and Nesting Sites
Cardinals prefer shrubs and brambles. They love evergreen trees and these are especially good in winter to provide shelter from the cold. Besides being good for the birds, evergreens planted on the north side of your house will help save energy and lower your monthly bill.

Food Plants that Cardinals use include: Maple, devil's walking stick, paper mulberry, French mulberry, ironwood, bitter-sweet, hackberry, fringe tree, camphor tree, flowering dogwood, hawthorn, gumi, fatsia, common fig, ash, huckleberry, sunflower, firebush, lantana, privet, sweet gum, Southern magnolia, red mulberry, American hop hornbeam, poke-berry, pine, black cherry, pyracantha, sumac, rose, blackberry and dewberry.

Sharing Seed and Young Male Bath Postcards are available at Naturegirl7's Zazzle Store.

Over 25 years ago, when we were young and foolish, we used to let our black cat, Zee, come in and out as he pleased. One night we heard a commotion outside our bedroom window and rushed out to find Zee Cat with a Mother Cardinal in his mouth.

The nest was very low in the shrubs right by the window. There was one baby in the nest so we brought it inside and kept it warm and safe.

At that time, rehabilitators were few and hard to find. So since we had experience with hand raising cockatiels and canaries and we had everything on hand, we decided to raise the little guy ourselves.

He grew quickly and soon began to show the mottled feathers of a young male. But we had to teach him how to open sunflower seeds like his bird parents would have.

When he had moulted into most of his adult plumage, we released him into the backyard. He stayed around for a while, then went off to establish his own territory.

Ever since that incident, we have kept our cats inside during the breeding season and we only let them out on supervised excursions at other times of the year.

To see more designs, please visit our Naturally Native Creations Zazzle Gallery.

Cardinal Designs by Naturally Native Creations

National Geographic Photographing Birds

Nature - Birds & Birdwatching
High quality National Geographic book which gives pointers and instructions about how to photograph birds.

Cardinal in Holly Card and Postage Designs by Naturally Native

Cardinal Cards by tbegor and KKeleyArt

Buy Cardinal Cross Stitch Sticker by naturegirl7

Northern Cardinal Plush Toy

This cute Cardinal is soft and fuzzy -- and it sings! It is the state bird of NC, IN, OH, VA, IL, WV and KY. The authentic bird song is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. National Audubon designed it. This 5" plush toy is kid safe.

Isle of Squid

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