The northern cardinal is a beautiful songbird. It
does not migrate. The male has bright red feathers and the female
has buff-colored feathers with tinges of red on crest and wings.
Both sexes have prominent crests and red bills.
A distictive behavior of this
species is that the male will feed the female during courtship.
They are aggressive birds and occupy territories year-round.
Northern cardinals are found in
sheltered backyards, woodland edges, thickets and parks.
The geographic range for this bird includes
states east of the Dakotas and Kansas and all states south and
east of Minnesota including Texas.
The northern cardinal has over 2 dozen different songs.
The most common, and the one I heard was, "What cheer! What
cheer! What cheer!"
The diet includes seeds and insects.
2002. Laurie Hanson.
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© 2013 Anoka-Ramsey Community College - Biology Department.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed by ARCC.
Last Updated -August 12, 2016
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