By: Kara Tyler-Julian | Biologist
Ah, the holidays. A time for holly and jolly, mistletoe and Christmas trees, wreaths, and… cardinals? For some peculiar reason, many winter holiday decorations, cards, and wrapping paper feature the Northern Cardinal. There isn’t anything particularly Christmasy about the northern cardinal other than the fact that the mature male is a brilliant red color that stands out starkly in a white wintery landscape. In our area, you can see cardinals (the bird, not the clergy members) throughout the year, including winter, snow not included. Cardinals range throughout the Eastern and Central United States and south into Mexico.
Those beautiful males, with their striking red coloration and their black mask, are territorial and will fight other males to defend their territory. This trait, combined with our modern world full of vehicles, leads to males often being seen attacking their own reflection in a side-view mirror. If you do see this happening to your own vehicle, which is quite common, the only way to stop it is to cover the mirror.
The adult females and the juvenile cardinals are distinguished from the brilliant red males by featuring more drab brownish or copper coloration. The female is distinguished from the juveniles by her bright orange beak, whereas the juvenile is grayish in color.
These songbirds are granivorous, meaning they feed on seeds and, as such, are easily attracted to bird feeders. The young cardinals, however, are fed a diet that is almost entirely insects, which underscores the importance of a healthy food web to support a healthy population of these and other species of birds. Cardinals will produce anywhere from one to five eggs per brood, but three to four is the average number. Once the babies hatch, they grow relatively quickly and are ready to fledge around 11 days after hatching, which is remarkable!
Many people enjoy attracting these and other songbirds to their yards by providing birdfeeders full of seeds for the birds to enjoy. Interestingly, research suggests that this human activity of providing seed for wild birds has expanded the Northern cardinal range. Additionally, feeding birds with birdfeeders can increase the likelihood of diseases spreading among local bird populations and attract outdoor cats that kill and injure the birds. The dropped seed also attracts unwanted creatures to your yard, such as rats, squirrels, and raccoons. Furthermore, the seed provided by humans does not accurately reflect the natural diet that the birds would obtain from their instinctual foraging activities and may not be nutritionally balanced. For these and other reasons, it is better to provide food for wild birds by planting diverse native plants for them to feed on. Planting a diverse range of native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, vines, and trees will do a much better job of attracting diverse bird species while supporting their nutritional needs at all life stages. Don’t forget that insects are crucial for their young, so be sure to let the insect populations flourish as well!
We at the East Lee Wildlife Stewardship Group would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, and we look forward to sharing more creatures with you in the new year!
