As you can tell from our site, we like cardinals quite a bit! This will be the first article in a series that describes wild birds from the point of view of a backyard bird watcher. We’ll talk about their behavior, diet and preferred environment, along with some miscellaneous facts. So here goes!

General: Cardinals are one of the most recognizable birds around. Three species range through most of North America and parts of South America. Two species’ males are almost entirely red. The exception is the Pyrrhuloxia of Mexico and the American Southwest, whose red breast and face contrast with the rest of its gray-feathered body.

In all species, females don’t have the male cardinal’s dramatic coloration. Males synthesize their red color from natural pigments in their diet. If they don’t have access to it, their color will change. Both species have a distinctive crest and a darker "mask" around the eyes. Cardinals only migrate in extreme situations, when it’s a choice between moving or starving. Otherwise, you can see them in all seasons. In the winter, their feathers strike a brilliant contrast against the snow.

Diet: Cardinals are primarily seed eaters, though they’ll also dine on fruit or insects when they’re available. In wild habitats they forage on the ground, hopping through grass and shrubbery to find their food. Cardinals are very receptive to backyard feedingand owe much of their modern success as a species to wild bird feeders. They especially enjoy safflower and sunflower seeds. To attract them, try Fuit and Berry, Ultimate Sunflower and Superior Seeds. Put them in a feeder, but also scatter some seed on the ground nearby to appeal to cardinals’ ground-foraging habits.

Environment: Cardinals prefer woodlands and shrubbery. In the wild, this protects them while they forage. Cardinals nest in bushes that are too thick for bigger birds or squirrels to enter. Keep bushes, hedges and other low-lying foliage in any area you’d like cardinals to visit. They like to eat in relative privacy. Practically speaking, that means you’ll get the best results from a feeder near the foliage, set apart from any of the others you might have set up.

Behavior: Cardinals are a territorial species. Males sing from the treetops to mark to warn intruders, and will chase them away when they see them. Around feeders, a few males will often drive off other birds, though given enough time they’ll will normally come to an arrangement about who gets to feed and when.

Cardinals aren’t born knowing how to sing. They learn songs from their parents, so just like human languages and accents, cardinal songs vary between regions. Aside from territorial announcements, cardinals sing to court mates and warn of nearby predators.

One of the few exceptions to a male cardinal’s territorial urges is its mate. Courtship involves mutual song. Males will often feed their mates beak to beak. Cardinals are serially monogamous; they stick with their mates throughout the courtship, mating and incubation period. Females build nests in thick shrubs three to ten feet off the ground and lay blotchy, tinted white eggs in clutches of three or four.

Tags: cardinal feeder, cardinal food, cardinal seed, wild bird feeder, wild bird food, wild bird seed

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.