All About Cardinals

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For northerners, there is seldom a more welcome sight on a blustery fall or winter day than the flashy red male cardinal and his attractive mate.  Even their call, an exuberant "cheer, cheer, cheer" brightens up a dreary day.  

 But the Northern Cardinal was not always a northern bird.  Originally a bird of the southeast, early settlers there were reminded of the red robes of Roman Catholic Cardinals, and so named the bird. Its plumage was so favored, that before the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, thousands were captured and sold as caged birds to northerners and even shipped to Europe. Then, as settlers progressed westward and northward along the Mississippi river, they cleared the dense forests and the cardinal followed, preferring the more open terrain. By the early 1900's cardinals were found as far north as Canada and by the 1940's and 50's had expanded their range northeastward to New England. Because their winter diet consists mainly of large seeds, it's likely that the popularity of bird feeding also contributed to the cardinal's expansion.  In summer, a cardinal's diet is made up of various seeds, fruits and berries and occasionally insects.   

Cardinals belong to the family Cardinalidae, which interestingly includes Grosbeaks (except for the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, which are actually finches), Buntings, the Dickcissel and of course, the similar southwestern Pyrrhuloxia.  The Summer and Hepatic tanagers are the only other all-red birds in North America.  Cardinals are extremely territorial in spring and summer.  During mating season, male cardinals are sometimes seen fighting their reflections in windows or car doors, thinking they are frightening off a competitor!  However, in winter, cardinals will frequently flock together in groups of 50 or more in a particularly abundant feeding area.   

Cardinal mating rituals are particularly endearing.  Males and females will sing year round, and in spring, often sing duets before nesting starts.  Mating displays include the birds stretching their necks and rocking as well as frequent courtship feeding.  Once the nest of twigs and grasses has been constructed, the female will incubate 3 to 4 pale-green, spotted eggs.  Hatching takes place about 11 to 13 days later. The male and female both participate in feeding and raising the young.  Often the male will tend to a brood while the female is incubating another.  Cardinals can have up to 4 broods a season, but more often 2 to 3. Cardinals are socially monogamous; that means they will stay together for life for the purpose of raising young.  But cardinals are known to cheat!  In areas with large populations, up to 35% of the young were fathered by a cardinal other than the one raising them!    

It's easy to attract beautiful cardinals to your bird feeding areas.  Cardinals like feeders with large areas for perching, such as a platform feeder or a hopper feeder with plenty of perching room.  Frequently they will be seen feeding off the ground, picking up seeds that other birds have flicked off the feeders. Offer black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed or pieces of fruit and you will see cardinals at your feeders all year long. 

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• Posted at Tuesday, July 15, 2008 09:44 AM
• In Wild Bird Feeding Category | Permalink