Cardinals are fan favorites when it comes to backyard bird watching. Their bright coloration, cheerful song, and habit of living around homes and gardens make them extremely recognizable. While they are certainly a familiar and likable bird, there is even more to them than meets the eye. Here are five things you may not have known about Cardinals.
There is more than one species of cardinal
Cardinals are in the family cardinalidae that includes birds like grosbeaks, tanagers, and buntings. In that grouping there are three birds that are deemed to be true cardinals. Those species are the vermillion cardinal that lives in South America, the Pyrrhuloxia, residing in certain parts of the southeastern US, and the Northern Cardinal which is the most well known of the bunch living throughout much of the eastern US. There are other birds that look similar to cardinals such as the Phainopepla that aren’t true cardinals and even birds with cardinal in the name like red crested cardinals that aren’t true cardinals. Bird taxonomy, it’s really something, but the gist of it is that there are 3 species, all sporting a crest and red coloration. In this video our focus will be on the Northern Cardinal since that’s the species most people think of when they hear the term cardinal.
They fight themselves
Some of the most searched questions about cardinals have to do with why they attack windows. Many people have run into this issue that involves a cardinal (usually a male cardinal) consistently attacking windows or other reflective surfaces around their house and yard. This happens because of an unfortunate mix of things. First, Cardinals are highly territorial and will fiercely defend their territories from rivals. Couple this with the fact that they don’t have the ability to recognize themselves in reflective surfaces and you get the perfect storm of a cardinal seeing what it believes to be a rival male that simply won’t back down no matter how hard it fights against it. These incidents can be stressful for the bird involved and even cause some injuries. If you’re in a situation where this is happening, you can put decals or some other non reflective material over the spot the cardinal is attacking. Usually they calm down once the mating season is over.
They aren’t red to begin with
Cardinals are known for the males’ bright red color, but they aren’t naturally red. Males are red not because of genetic coloration but because of the foods they eat. Pigments called carotenoids are the cause of the color. They are found in the foods that they eat and this is actually the same color that gives fall leaves their colors as well as other birds such as house finches. The more carotenoids a cardinal consumes the brighter red it becomes, meaning there is a strong link between health and brightness. For this reason, the brightest male cardinals are usually the most successful at finding a mate. Female cardinals also have a bit of red but it’s not nearly as noticeable. It’s worth noting that sometimes the genetic pigment processing that makes cardinals red doesn’t work right and cardinals end up yellow. This is very rare and usually causes a stir when a bird like this is found.
They are the most popular state bird
For having 50 states, one would think that there would be a good amount of unique birds picked to represent each state. While there are definitely some interesting one offs like the Scissor tailed flycatcher in Oklahoma or the western Gull in Utah, there are many states that share the same state bird. The bird most chosen as a state bird is the cardinal with 7 different states selecting it. In case you’re wondering, these states are Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The cardinal was likely chosen so often for a variety of reasons including the fact that they don’t really migrate so they’re seen often, they’re common around yards, they stay brightly colored in the winter, and to many people they hold special meanings. No matter what the reason, they ended up as the record holder for most state bird selections with the western meadowlark coming in at number two with 6 and the mockingbird at third with 5.
Females also sing
For many songbirds, only the male sings. The northern cardinal is different because the female is also quite vocal and communicates via song. Oftentimes they sing during the nesting season which is thought to signal a variety of different things to their partner such as where exactly to bring the food and what the status of the nest is. It’s very common to see male cardinals up and singing but if you hear cardinal vocalizations from the dense thickets, it’s possible it could actually be a female.
Even though Cardinals are common, they certainly are even more interesting than people think. Are there any other facts about cardinals I didn’t mention, let us know in the comments below and as always, thanks for watching, we’ll see you next time on Badgerland Birding.