Northern Cardinal
Locate:Cardinal Bird Feeders
Cardinal Bird Houses
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Sound (260k)
Size: 8.75 inches (22 cm)
Abundance:• Common
Quick Identification:
- Large crest
- Male: Bright red with black surrounding bill
- Female: Buffy gray below, grayish above with red patches
Identification Tips:
• Large, conical bill
• Crest
• Long tail
Adult male:
• Bright red plumage, dullest on back and wings
• Black around base of bill
• Red bill
Adult female:
• Reddish crest, wings and tail
• Brownish-gray upperparts
• Buffy underparts
• Red bill
• Juvenile like adult female but has dark bill and crest
Similar species:
The male Northern Cardinal is unmistakeable. Females and juveniles are
similar to Pyrrhuloxia but Pyrrhuloxia has a yellow bill with a curved culmen and is
grayer, less brown
Woodland edges, fields, thickets, brushy undergrowth, suburbs, gardens, feeders with sunflower seeds, swamps, desert washes, riparian areas. Very common in the east. Both sexes sing almost the entire year.
Nesting/Feeding:
Breeding: Thickets, dense shrubs, undergrowth,
residential areas; riparian thickets in west. 2, 3, occasionally 4 broods. Mating system
is monogamous.
Displays: Male and female with outstretched
necks and erect crests sway bodies from side to side while singing softly.
Nest: Compact and well lined to flimsy and
scarcely lined; of weed stems, pliable twigs, bark strips, grass, rootlets, with leaves
and paper interwoven, lined with fine grass, hair.
Eggs: Three to four. Grayish-, bluish-,
greenish-white, marked with browns, grays, purples. 1.0" (25 mm).
Chick development: Female incubates with help
from male. Incubation takes 12-13 days. Development is altricial (immobile, downless, eyes
closed, fed). Young leave the nest after 9-10 days. Both sexes tend young.
Diet: Insects, fruits, seeds
Conservation: Winter resident although some
eastern birds tend to move northeast and north in late summer and early fall. Common
cowbird host, especially in central portion of range. Range extending steadily north.
Introduced to Hawaii.
Notes: Female sings usually after male
establishes territory but before nesting starts; likely functions in pair bonding and
reproductive synchronization of pair. Male cares for first brood while female incubates
second clutch. May form winter flocks of up to 60 to 70 birds.
World Range:
Charles Sibley's Birds of the World: Cardinalis cardinalis
NORTHERN CARDINAL. Thickets, fields, forest edge, riparian thickets, woodland, towns, arid
scrub. The U.S. in extreme se Calif., s Utah, c,se Arizona, sw,c,se New Mexico, w,n Texas,
w Oklahoma, sw Kansas, ne Colorado, sw,c Nebraska, c S. Dakota, se N. Dakota, se Manitoba,
c Minnesota, n Wisconsin, s Ontario, sw Quebec, n New York, n New England to c Maine and s
New Brunswick, s to s Texas, Gulf Coast and s Florida. Populations expanding in the north.
Mexico in c,s Baja Calif., incl. Tiburón Island and smaller islands in the Gulf of
California, Sonora, n Sinaloa, Tres Marías Islands off Nayarit, n,c,e Chihuahua,
Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, s in central and eastern Mexico to c,e Durango,
Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, ne Jalisco, n,c Guanajuato, Querétaro, w to ne Hidalgo, n,e
Puebla and Veracruz s to n Oaxaca, Tabasco, n Chiapas, Yucatán Peninsula, Cozumel Island,
n Guatemala and n Belize. Pacific lowlands of sw Mexico in s Jalisco, Colima, s
Michoacán, s Guerrero to s Oaxaca at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Introduced in the
Hawaiian Islands, sw Calif. locally in Los Angeles area and Bermuda.
