Educational Corner: Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Winter feeding and habitat changes have helped extend the northern range of this more southerly bird. Now Midwesterners can see the beautiful red male brightening up yard and face on a bleak winter’s day. In February, the northern cardinal sings a cheerful, “Birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie” song to get ready for the nesting season. The female lacks the bright red plumage, but has a red bill, crest, wings and tail. The young looks like a female except it has a dark bill and crest. The open cup nest is built of twigs, bark, grasses, leaves and rootlets lined with hair and grasses in a dense shrub, vine tangle or conifer.

Distribution: 

Southeastern U.S. north to Canadian border; also southwestern U.S.; has expanded its range northward for past century; lives in woodland edges, suburban gardens, wherever there’s dense bushes; more local in southwest, most absent west of the Great Plains.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae

Facts:

• In early spring, the male cardinal offers food to the female to bond with her. This behavior is often seen in spring at sunflower feeders.

• Sometimes the young look bald-headed when molting their head feathers.

• Both male and female cardinals sing, often repeating each other’s phrases to stay connected.