The Northern Cardinal
Sharing Dinner
Description
The Northern Cardinal is a moderately sized bird measuring 8 to 8 ½ inches long. The male is a bright red bird with a pointed crest on the top of his head and a long tail. The female is grayish-brown in color with only her crest, wings, and tail sporting the signature red. Both the male and female's conical bill is bright red and both have a small black mask on their faces. The juveniles are similar to the female in color, but have a darker bill and crest. The Cardinal was named after the red robe and hats worn by Roman Catholic Cardinals.
Diet
The Northern Cardinal's food consists of insects, spiders, fruits, berries, and seeds. They are frequent visitors to backyard feeders. The ideal Cardinal bird feeder is the hopper style feeder filled with black-oil sunflower seeds. They tend to be territorial so you may want to place a birdfeeder in both the front and backyard. A visual barrier between the birdfeeders cuts down the squabbling. Feed the Birds!
Avant Garden 8501-3 Cottage Lantern Bird Feeder
Amazon Price: $18.87 (as of 07/10/2009)
I love watching the birds in my backyard, and nothing attracts the birds better than a birdfeeder. The Avant Garden Cottage Lantern Feeder is an excellent choice.
Cardinal One Way Mirror Feeder
Cardinal One Way Mirror Feeder, Clear
Amazon Price: $27.99 (as of 07/10/2009)
The Cardinal One Way Mirror Feeder allows you to watch the birds up close without scaring them away. It fastens to the window with two heavy-duty suction cups. It's easy to see, fill and clean. It's a must have for the avid backyard bird watcher.
Range and Habitat
The Northern Cardinal is a year-round resident of eastern and central North America. Their range has expanded since the 1800's but they are still a rare sight in the west and north-western part of the country. Northern Cardinal
The male Cardinal is an aggressive defender of his territory. If he sees his reflection in a glass surface, it will spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder.
Mating and Nesting Habits
During courtship the male Northern Cardinal will select a seed, hop over to the female, and offer it to her. Their beaks touch briefly when she accepts the offering. This is referred to as mate feeding and continues throughout the breeding season.The female Northern Cardinal builds its nest in dense shrubbery or in small trees. The nests are usually placed several feet off the ground and are built with twigs, strips of bark, leaves, and roots. If there are scraps of paper floating around, the female Cardinal will make use of it. Once the basic structure is built, she lines it with grass, hair and soft vines.
Once the nest is built, the female Cardinal lays 2 to 5 white colored eggs with light brown speckles. She incubates the eggs alone while the male gathers food for both of them and guards their territory.
Pairs of Northern Cardinals usually stay together until one dies. At that point the surviving mate will look for another partner.
Voice
Both the male and female Northern Cardinals are accomplished songsters and can be heard any time of the year rather than just in the spring. The female will often sing from the nest and the pair share song phrases. Listen carefully and you may hear the Cardinal's slow easy trill- cheer, cheer, twee twee weet, er-dee, er-dee, er-dee...Listen to the song of the Northern Cardinal: Sound Byte: Northern Cardinal, National Park Service
Common Birds and Their Songs
Common Birds and Their Songs (Book and Audio CD)
Amazon Price: $14.96 (as of 07/10/2009)
This book-audio package provides a unique introduction to fifty of the most familiar birds of North America and the songs they sing. Common Birds and Their Songs will be valuable to anyone interested in birds, from beginner to expert. It's the perfect gift for any birder.
Shall I Sing For You?
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America's 100 Most Wanted Birds
America's 100 Most Wanted Birds
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
If you want to see a gyrfalcon or a fork-tailed flycatcher, this resource might be your best help in spotting them. Mostly for serious birders intent on adding species to their life lists, America's 100 Most Wanted Birds provides detailed strategies for locating 100 of the most uncommon-to-rare bird species in the United States.
Some of my Favorite Backyard Birds
The Bold and BeautifulThe American Goldfinch
The Blue Jay
The Northern Cardinal
Cheerful Singers
The European Starling
The Northern Mockingbird
The American Robin
The Shy Ones The Eastern Bluebird
The Carolina Wren
Have you seen any interesting birds lately?
JaguarJulie wrote...
We have been seeing quite a number of these Northern Cardinals on our bird feeder. I recognize their distinctive sounds.
Posted April 30, 2009
AndyPo wrote...
Excellent. You are lucky to have such a variety of beautiful birds in America.
Posted January 20, 2009
mukunda22 wrote...
Cardinals are everywhere around my property! What a beautiful sight!!
I never knew they shared seeds before! I love that.
Posted January 18, 2009
About the Author
Lensmaster ElizabethJeanAllen, aka Lizzy Jean, has been a member since March 16 2008, has rated 3,690 lenses, favorited 454, and has created 169 lenses from scratch. Lizzy Jean donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "The Mallard Duck". See all my lenses
Why Birds Do That
Why Birds Do That: 40 Distinctive Bird Behaviors Explained & Photographed
Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 07/10/2009)
Birds are fascinating. Their behavior is complex, often comical. Some sing while others do not. Why Birds Do That explains forty distinctive bird behaviors and is enhanced with numerous photographs. It is a must have book for both the backyard bird watcher as well as the avid birder.
Resources used to build this page
Peterson, T.P. & Peterson, V.M. 2002. Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Fifth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, N.Y.
Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology
Seattle Audubon Society
Northern Cardinal- Cardinalis cardinalis, Nature Works
The Northern Cardinal, Chipper Woods Observatory
by ElizabethJeanAllen
I tell my students to Learn from the Past, Live in the Present, and Plan for the Future. With Squidoo I can do all three.
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