Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Cardinal Is Everyone's Favorite Red Bird

By: Tom Berg

The northern cardinal is the state bird of seven different states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia), and it is quite colorful. The males are bright red, of course! Cardinals are beautiful birds, and the male’s brilliant red feathers are contrasted by a jet black face. Females are a much paler brownish-orange color, with hints of red on their wings, tail and beak. Both males and females have a pronounced crest of feathers on top of their head.

Cardinals are medium-sized songbirds, usually measuring about nine inches from beak to tail and with a typical wingspan of 12 inches. They are only slightly smaller than robins. Cardinals do not migrate, so they will be present at our bird feeders and in our back yards all winter. Their cheery chirping is always a welcome sound as they flit between bushes and shrubs.

Northern cardinals are also called redbirds, red cardinals, or “winter redbirds”. Besides the reddish-colored male house finch, they are the only redbird that sticks around during the cold winter months. Since they are so brightly colored, it is usually easy to see them against a snowy white landscape.

Black oil sunflower seeds are one of the cardinal’s favorite foods, but they eat many different seeds, nuts, and fruits, too. Bird feeders which offer different seeds and kernels of corn will attract cardinals all winter. During the warmer months of the year they also eat a wide variety of insects and are known to eat plenty of flower blossoms, too.

An interesting fact about cardinals is that the males are very serious about courtship. They are often observed feeding seeds beak-to-beak to their female mate, and they fiercely defend their territory from other males. In fact, if the male sees his reflection in a window or other reflective object, he might fight it for hours as he tries to drive it away.

Keep an eye out for these attractive birds in your back yard this winter!

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