| Description: About 8 1/2 inches long,
the male is bright red with black around the bill. It has a large crest and
a reddish bill. The female is buff and gray brown with red on the crest,
wings tail and bill. She lays 2 - 5 buff white eggs with dark marks that
hatch in about 13 days. The young leave the nest in 9 -11 days.
Habitat: Cardinals are found in gardens,
parks, woods and thickets. The nest is made of twigs, bark, leaves and vines,
lined with paper, grass and hair. It is built in a thicket or dense shrubbery.
Foods: They eat insects, fruit
and seeds.
Facts: The cardinal is the only
eastern red bird with a crest. They heavy red bill, with black at the base,
is a good field mark. The light brown female has the crest and red bill,
but little red on the body. Young have dusty bills. Cardinals are common in
shrubbery, hedgerows, and wood margins. In recent years the cardinal has
gradually spread northward. The crested Pyrrhuloxia (7 1/2) of the Southwest
is mostly gray with red face, crest, breast, and tail, and the general cardinal
shape.Most female birds dont sing, but the female cardinal does. She mostly
sings while on hte nest, so maybe she telling her amte to bring dinner.
Did you know?: Cardinals mate for
life. During courtship the male brings bits of food and feeds the female.
They work together to feed their young. Also the northern cardinal is the
state bird of a whooping seven states! Because the male cardinal keeps his
bright feathers throughout the winter, one can spot this stunning bird even
on the coldest of days.
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