The Northern Cardinal is One of My Favorite Backyard Birds
The Northern Cardinal is a favorite at many backyard bird feeders within it's range area.
This bird ranges from Maine to Texas and down to Mexico. It's range is pretty much down the center of the United States heading east.
They can be found in parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas heading east. They can even be found in some parts of Arizona. This bird is another favorite of ours and of course now that we live in Montana we don't get to see them anymore. They just don't come this far west.
The Northern Cardinal is a mid-size song bird and the color of the male is a brilliant red. If you want to find where they are hiding just listen for their piercing chip notes.
The female cardinal is not as pretty as her male counter part. Her color is a grayish-brown tone with a slight red tint on it's wings, crest and tail feathers. The male cardinal is a very territorial bird. He actually marks out his territory with song and he will chase off any males that wander into his area. Actually the male is a very aggressive bird and one of the few species that will stand up to a Blue Jay at the feeders. They are so aggressive they have been known to actually attack their own reflection in a window. It is the craziest thing. I actually watched this happen at our home in Minnesota.
Fun Fact: These are very romantic birds. During their courtship, the male will actually feed the female seeds.
They are generally found in pairs and they do not migrate, usually staying within their range. The exception might be in periods of extremely cold weather or scarce food.
Cardinals for the most part are ground feeders. Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, berries and insects. However while hopping along the ground they also love and find worms, lizards, beetles and grasshoppers to eat.
I have found the best cardinal feeders to use are the hopper type or even a platform type.
They have a real taste for sunflower seeds as well and that is what brings them to your backyard feeders all year long.
Generally you will find them nesting in dense tangles of shrubs and vines.
For the most part, the female is the one to build the nest, although the male will bring her material from time to time. A couple of other interesting facts is that a cardinal will usually use it's nest only once. When they reproduce, they will lay up to 3 to 4 eggs in a clutch and they actually can lay up to four clutches in a single year.
If you are planning on buying a birdhouse to attract cardinals to your yard, don't bother. They won't use them. They prefer building a nest.
The Northern Cardinal is definitely a favorite at the backyard feeders. This is a bird that we really miss having in our backyard and at our feeders.
We do look forward to seeing them each time we head east though. It is just another fun thing to look forward to.
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