Northern cardinal
The northern cardinal, a crested red songbird of eastern North America, will sometimes pick a fight with itself. A male that catches his image in a reflective surface may take it for a rival male. He then fights the reflection relentlessly. The bird is also called the common cardinal or the red cardinal, though most people simply say cardinal. Behind that stubborn display sits a bird full of surprises. Where does its famous red come from, and why is a rare cardinal yellow? How does one pair manage to raise young again and again in a single year? And how did a backyard songbird end up on state symbols, ballfield mascots and a passenger train?
A male northern cardinal fed only yellow pigments turns a pale red, nothing like the brilliant crimson of a wild bird. His color is borrowed from his food. Carotenoid pigments, both red and yellow, supply the raw material. The male's body then converts them into a plumage color that differs from the pigment he ate. A few rare yellow morph cardinals lack the enzyme that makes this conversion. Their beaks and feathers are yellow, although the black face mask stays.
The adult male in full color is crimson, with a black mask over the eyes that reaches down to the upper chest. His red grows duller and darker on the back and wings, and his crest is larger than the female's. The adult female looks very different. She is fawn-colored, mostly grayish-brown, with a slight reddish tint on the wings, crest and tail. Her mask is gray to black and less sharply defined. Both sexes carry a prominent raised crest and a strong, cone-shaped, coral-colored beak.
Young birds of either sex resemble the adult female until the fall, when they molt and grow adult feathers. They are brown above and red-brown below, with a brick-colored crest, forehead, wings and tail. A hatchling's beak starts out grayish-black. It turns the trademark orange-red only when the bird reaches its final adult plumage in the fall. The legs and feet of the young are a dark pink-brown, and the iris of the eye is brown.
Perched at the top of a tree or another high spot, a male cardinal defends his ground with a loud, clear whistle. Any other male that wanders in gets chased off. The song works as a boundary marker. Cardinals learn their songs rather than inheriting them, so the songs vary from region to region. A cardinal's syllables overlap more with those of its near neighbors than with those of birds farther away.
One common rendering of the song is "cheeeer-a-dote, cheeer-a-dote-dote-dote". Other listeners have written it as "purdy, purdy, purdy...whoit, whoit, whoit, whoit". Further versions include "what-cheer, what-cheer... wheet, wheet, wheet, wheet" and "cheer, cheer, cheer, what, what, what, what". Both sexes sing these clear, whistled patterns, repeating each several times before varying it.
The alarm call is a short metallic chip. A cardinal often gives it when a predator approaches the nest, warning the female and the nestlings. The songs of males and females cannot be told apart by the human ear, yet they are sexually dimorphic. It has been suggested that differing hormone levels in the two sexes explain the difference.
Mated pairs often travel together, and some sing together before nesting begins. Many pairs stay together year-round and may mate again in following years. Others "divorce" between seasons, or choose a new mate when one dies. Staying together is not the same as being faithful. DNA studies of two cardinal populations found that 9-35% of nestlings were not fathered by the female's mate. During courtship, the male gathers food and passes it to the female beak-to-beak.
The female does most of the nest building, though the male sometimes brings her material. She picks a well-concealed spot in dense shrub or a low tree, 1-3 m above the ground. She crushes twigs with her beak until they bend easily. Then she turns inside the nest, wrapping twigs around her body and pushing them into a cup shape with her feet.
The finished cup has four layers. Coarse twigs, sometimes with bits of trash, are covered by a leafy mat. Next comes a lining of grapevine bark, when available. The last layer is grasses, stems, rootlets and pine needles, again where available. The work takes three to nine days. The nest stands 5.1-7.6 cm tall and is 10.1 cm across, with an inner diameter of about 7.6 cm. Cardinals do not usually use a nest more than once.
Eggs arrive one to six days after the nest is done. Three or four is usual, though a nest may hold as few as one or as many as five. The shell is white with a tint of green, blue or brown, marked with lavender, gray or brown blotches that thicken around the larger end. It is smooth and slightly glossy, and each egg measures about 26 x 19 mm. Sitting on those eggs falls mostly to the female.
Incubation lasts 12 or 13 days, and the female generally does it, using her brood patches. The male may take a brief turn, though this is rare. Young birds fledge 10 or 11 days after hatching. Two or three broods are raised each year, and sometimes four. The male cares for and feeds each brood while the female incubates the next clutch. In Massachusetts, observers have found nests in thick shrubs, trees and vine tangles.
A newly hatched cardinal weighs an average of 3-3.5 grams and is naked, blind and immobile. Feathers do not appear until it is 4-5 days old. Its diet is mainly insects, which the adults crush with their beaks before feeding. A chick gains about 2-3 grams per day. Growth is a bit slower until day 2, faster from day 2 to day 7 or 8, and slower again for the day or two before fledging.
Nestlings call out to bring their parents to the nest for feeding. Very young nestlings will beg even if the nest is moved. As they grow older, they respond only to their parents' presence or to their songs.
Keeping the nest clean falls to the adults. A nestling's waste comes wrapped in a tough mucous membrane as a fecal sac, produced every 3 or 4 feedings. Females sometimes stimulate this by poking the nestling near the cloaca. The parents eat the sacs from the first 4 to 5 days. Later sacs are carried away from the nest and dropped.
Winter pushes a cardinal to fluff up the small, hairlike down feathers at the base of each flight feather, trapping warm air against its body. Its legs and feet are thin and unfeathered, so they lose heat quickly. In cold temperatures the bird shivers and tenses its breast muscles to make heat. It can also lower its body temperature when that helps it survive.
Up to 90% of an adult's diet is weed seeds, grains and fruits. The cardinal is a ground feeder, hopping along the ground and through trees or shrubbery. It also eats snails and insects, including beetles, cicadas and grasshoppers. Other regular items are corn, oats, sunflower seeds, the blossoms and bark of elm trees, and maple sap from holes made by sapsuckers.
Adult cardinals are hunted by falcons, all Accipiter hawks, shrikes, bald eagles, golden eagles and several owls. The owls include long-eared owls and eastern screech owls. Eggs and chicks face milk snakes, coluber constrictors, blue jays, crows, eastern gray squirrels, fox squirrels, eastern chipmunks and domestic cats. Cowbirds have also been seen parasitizing cardinal nests.
Annual survival for adults is estimated at 60-65%. The oldest wild cardinal banded by researchers lived at least 15 years and 9 months. A captive bird reached 28.5 years. A 2016 study in Atlanta, Georgia, on West Nile virus transmission in the United States found something unusual. Unlike other species, northern cardinals biologically suppress the disease after infection.
From the southern half of Maine to Minnesota and down to the Texas-Mexico border, northern cardinals are numerous. In Canada they live in the southern parts of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all the way east to Cape Breton Island. The range continues south through Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northern Guatemala and northern Belize. A separate, allopatric population lives on the Pacific slope of Mexico, from Jalisco to Oaxaca. Woodlands, gardens, shrublands and wetlands make up its natural habitat.
The bird has also been carried to new places. It was introduced to Bermuda in 1700. In Hawaii, it has lived on all the major islands since its introduction in 1929.
In Massachusetts, the record shows a bird on the move. In 1929, Forbush described the species as rare. By 1955, Griscom reported it "pushing northward" as it turned up annually at feeding stations. Audubon data shows the population there has grown rapidly since 1960. Cardinals are most abundant in the east of the state, where dense cover mixes with open ground. Woodland edges, brushy fields, wooded wetlands, parks and suburbs suit them, while extensive woodlands do not.
Backyard feeders help. Sunflower seeds and safflower seeds draw cardinals in, and the rise in feeding by people has widened the species' range. The estimated global range is 5,800,000 km2, with a global population of some 100 million. Numbers appear stable or increasing.
Carl Linnaeus described the bird in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, calling it Loxia cardinalis. That genus now holds only crossbills. In 1838, the bird was recategorized as Cardinalis virginianus. In 1918, the scientific name was sometimes replaced with Richmondena cardinalis. Then in 1983 it became Cardinalis cardinalis, and the common name changed to "northern cardinal" to avoid confusion with several other species also called cardinals. The word "northern" refers to its range, since it is the northernmost cardinal species known. The cardinal itself is named after the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, who wear distinctive red robes and caps. Researchers recognize 19 subspecies, including C. c. phillipsi, named by Parkes in 1997.
In Cherokee mythology, the cardinal is associated with the sun and is a symbol of protection and good luck. Its bright color and distinctive song once made it a prized pet. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 banned its sale as a cage bird in the United States. It is now illegal to take, kill or possess a northern cardinal, with a fine of up to US$15,000 and imprisonment of up to six months. Canada protects it under the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds.
Seven U.S. states have named the northern cardinal their state bird, more than any other species. They are Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Each simply calls it "cardinal". Delaware considered it too, but the Delaware Blue Hen won out.
The cardinal is also a mascot for many athletic teams, though most portray it with a yellow beak and legs. Professional examples are the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball's National League and the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. The football team was based in St. Louis for many years. College teams include Ball State University, the University of Louisville, Illinois State University and Wesleyan University. Six of the state-bird states lie along the route of an Amtrak passenger train between Chicago and Washington DC, and that train is named the Cardinal.
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Common questions
What does the northern cardinal eat?
The northern cardinal eats mainly weed seeds, grains and fruits, which make up up to 90% of an adult's diet. It also eats snails and insects such as beetles, cicadas and grasshoppers, and the young are fed almost entirely on insects.
Why is the male northern cardinal red?
The male northern cardinal gets its red plumage from carotenoid pigments in its diet, which it metabolizes into a color different from the pigment it ate. When fed only yellow pigments, males become a pale red.
How many eggs does a northern cardinal lay?
A northern cardinal usually lays three or four eggs per nest, though it may lay as few as one or as many as five. Two or three broods are raised each year, and sometimes four.
Which U.S. states have the northern cardinal as their state bird?
Seven U.S. states have the northern cardinal as their state bird: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. That is more than any other species.
How long do northern cardinals live?
The oldest wild northern cardinal banded by researchers lived at least 15 years and 9 months, while a captive bird reached 28.5 years. Annual survival rates for adults are estimated at 60-65%.
Why was the northern cardinal renamed in 1983?
In 1983 the scientific name became Cardinalis cardinalis and the common name became northern cardinal to avoid confusion with several other species called cardinals. The word northern refers to its range, since it is the northernmost cardinal species known.
Is it legal to keep a northern cardinal as a pet?
No. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 banned the sale of northern cardinals as cage birds in the United States. Taking, killing or possessing one is illegal, with a fine of up to US$15,000 and imprisonment of up to six months.
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