 Cardinal
FeederThe Cardinal may be the most popular bird to feed and attract, especially in the eastern part of the United States. Male Cardinals are known by their brilliant red feathers and majestic crested heads. Female Cardinals, while also beautiful, sport a more subtle dull reddish color. Cardinals are a non-migratory bird and will stay in an area as long as food and adequate shelter is available throughout the year. Cardinals are very eager to dine at most any available bird feeder but prefer a steady, stationary feeder over a hanging bird feeder. Pole-mounted gazebo feeders tend to be more accommodating to Cardinals and are usually more successful in attracting them. Cardinals also prefer bird feeders that are about 5-6 feet above the ground. They will visit your feeder starting early in the morning and they'll keep returning to it well into the evening. Since Cardinals dine early in the morning and late in the evening, they have plenty of time for entertaining you by singing all day long while the other birds are taking their turns at your bird feeder. Unlike many birds, both the males and females are very vocal and will sing all year long. Sunflower seeds are a favorite food for Cardinals. They will usually sift through the entire mixture of seeds to get to every sunflower seed before starting in on the other seeds. They also enjoy white proso millet and safflower seeds when they can't get sunflower seeds.
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Northern Cardinal The common and familiar Northern Cardinal is a bird whose range has expanded northward in the last 100 years. Originally a bird of the Southeast, the Northern Cardinal's range expanded north and northwest along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In 1886 this cardinal was found only occasionally north of the Ohio River. By 1895 it had reached the Great Lakes, and by 1910, it was found in southern Ontario. Since the 1950s, expansion to the northeast has increased whereas dispersal to the northwest has slowed. The first documented Northern Cardinal nesting in Connecticut was in 1943; it reached Massachusetts in 1958, and has since reached the southern Maritime provinces of Canada. The Cardinal is limited in the West to areas where the annual precipitation is at least 16 inches. Nationally, centers of abundance for this cardinal are along the Mississippi River and along the Colorado and Guadalupe Rivers in Texas. Less-dense populations occur in the valleys of the Ohio, Arkansas, Brazos, and Red rivers. Northern Cardinal Range Map  Cardinals are noted for their loud, clear whistled songs, often sung from a high treetop song post. Females will counter sing, duetting with males—usually after the males have established territories and before nesting begins. Local variations and accents have been noted in cardinal songs. Typical habitats are thickets and brushy areas, edges and clearings, riparian woodlands, parks, and residential areas. Here the nonmigratory cardinals feed on a variety of foods including seeds, leaf buds, flowers, berries, and fruit. Up to one-third of its summer diet can be insects. Its winter diet is 90 percent vegetable matter, especially large seeds. Winter flocks can be very large, up to 60 or 70 individuals in areas of abundance. Description: Northern Cardinals are a medium-sized songbird (approximately 8.75 inches in length) with short, rounded wings, a long tail, a heavy conical bill, and a crest. Males are nearly all brilliant red; brownish-gray-tinged scapular and back feathers give the upper parts a less colorful appearance. The coral red bill is surrounded by a mask of black that extends to a dark eye and includes the chin and throat. Legs and feet are dark red. The female is soft grayish brown on the back with variable areas of red on the tail, crest, and wings. The underparts are a warm pinkish brown. Her coral red bill is also surrounded by darker but not black feathers, so her mask is not as distinct as the male's. Females are slightly smaller than males. The juveniles are like females but more brown in color, with shorter crest and a blackish bill. They molt to adult plumage in fall. The only other similar all-red birds in North America, the Hepatic and Summer Tanagers (Piranga flava and P. rubra), can be distinguished by their lack of crest and black mask and by their much slimmer bills. The related Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) is a similarly shaped bird with a similar song that may also attend feeders in the Southwest. It is a gray bird with a touch of red on its wings, tail, and the top of its crest. The male has red on its face where the cardinal has black and rose on its breast and belly. Both male and female are distinguished by strongly curved yellow parrot-like bills rather than the straighter and longer coral-red bills of the Northern Cardinal. In the 1800s Cardinals were much-sought-after cage birds highly valued for their color and song. Thousands were trapped in the south in the winter and sent to northern markets, and thousands more were sent to Europe. This trade ceased, fortunately, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Attracting Cardinals Cardinals are among North America's most popular songbirds. Male cardinals are known by their brilliant red feathers and majestic crested heads. Female cardinals, while also beautiful, sport a more subtle dull reddish color. Cardinals are very eager to dine at most any available bird feeder. They will visit your feeder starting early in the morning and they'll keep returning to it well into the evening. Since cardinals dine early in the morning and late in the evening, they have plenty of time for entertaining you by singing all day long while the other birds are taking their turns at your bird feeder. During the day, listen for the sweet sounds of their songs. Cardinals absolutely love to sing. The female cardinals will start singing in a warm, sweet voice. The males then follow up by belting out the same sweet melody. If the females change to a different tune, their mates will also change to the new melody. Male and female cardinals often serenade each other, alternately singing the same tune one after the other. At the bird feeder, male cardinals will take their part. They often fight other birds for the available birdseed. The very possessive male cardinal will usually give in though and allow the other birds to share in the bounty. As the breeding season approaches during March, the overpowering mood of the male cardinal shifts towards its mate with the feeding ritual. In late winter, the male cardinal will even break the seeds out of sunflower shells for his mate, and then feed her. Strategies for feeding Cardinals Cardinals prefer bird feeders that are about 5-6 feet above the ground. They prefer a steady stationary feeder over a hanging bird feeder. Sunflower seeds are a favorite food for Cardinals. They will usually sift through the entire mixture of seeds to get to every sunflower seed before starting in on the other seeds. They also enjoy white proso millet and safflower seeds when they can't get sunflower seeds. Cardinals are not migratory birds. Although they often wander during the winter months searching for food and water, very rarely do they stray more than a few miles from their nest. Since they don't migrate, if you establish a habitat that is attractive to them, you can have a cardinal family reside in your yard or garden for many years. Like most birds, Cardinals prefer to have a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees in the vicinity of their nesting area. They'll often build their nest in shrubs or bushes that face a meadow or lawn. Cardinals are among the most beautiful birds in the world. They are plentiful in a large portion of North America and several states have designated the Cardinal as their state birds. You can enjoy the beautiful sights and sounds of these magnificent birds all year long if you spend a little time preparing an enticing habitat for them in your garden or lawn! Cardinals, like all birds, are attracted to a water source. A heated bird bath will provide unfrozen water during the winter months and can be used all year long. |
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