The Cardinal Design

The male Northern Cardinal is unmistakable. He is almost entirely red, including his beak, with black markings around his eyes and beak. His head is tufted. He is gorgeous. He grows to 8 to 9”. His mate isn't as noticeable. She is somewhat smaller in size, mostly grey with a touch of reddish coloring here and there. She could easily be mistaken for a Pyrrhuloxia ... if you knew what one of them was. But everyone knows the male cardinal. Hey, there are two sports teams named after this bird. The cardinal gets his name from the Roman Catholic Cardinal who is also garbed in red.

They range mostly from Florida to Maine and from Texas to South Dakota, with their largest concentrations in the South, but they also live in Arizona. Cardinals tend not to migrate, but prefer to stay where they are. They like to eat mostly seeds and fruit, but will also indulge in an occasional bug. (Actually, perhaps a third of their diet is insects.) They are primarily ground feeders. They like thickets and bushes and aren't averse to living in parks and residential areas. In fact, population density of the Cardinal has increased over the last 200 years because they benefit from urban habitats, parks, and bird feeders.

Cardinals are known for their song. In the 1800's they were actually sought after as a cage bird because of their song. The male will sing out, often from a high treetop, and the female will counter sing, making a duet. Cardinal songs have their local variations and accents. Interestingly, mated pairs often share song phrases. Females will often sing right from the nest. Some think they use the song to communicate, telling the male to pick up groceries, etc.

Male cardinals are fierce when it comes to defending their breeding territory. They have been known to spend hours attacking their own reflections in glass surfaces. Interestingly, brighter males hold the territory with the densest vegetation, feed at higher rates, and have better success at reproduction than their duller counterparts.

Cardinals mate for life. Cardinal females build a cup-shaped nest of small twigs and grass in some shrubbery. They lay 3 to 5 eggs, and may have two to four broods a breeding season. Males and females both tend the young. The male will sometimes tend to one brood while the female goes off to begin the next one. They are a favorite of cowbirds. Cowbirds are “parasitic”. They will lay their eggs in another bird's nest and leave them to be raised by the other parents, sometimes at the expense of the other parents' original hatchlings. Despite the cowbird's use of the cardinal's nests, cardinals still are increasing in numbers.

Cardinals may live up to 15 years in the wild. The oldest known cardinal lived 15 years, nine months.

Cardinals are known to suffer from lice, mites, and other skin parasites. If the problem is bad, they will molt, leaving an oddly bald head. Cardinals (along with other birds) use a technique called “anting” to rid themselves of these problems. They will allow ants, alive or dead, to climb or be rubbed through their feathers. The ants' formic acid helps kill off the mites, and when they are done, the cardinal's feathers appear wet.

Isn’t that a marvelous design?