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Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
The brilliant red songbird with a pointed crest and black face — the female warm buff with red touches.
How to spot it
About 21–23 cm, with a tall pointed crest and a stout orange-red bill. The male is brilliant red with a black face; the female is warm buff-brown with red in the wings, crest and tail.
Where it lives
A resident of the eastern and central United States, the US Southwest and Mexico, in gardens, thickets, woodland edges and hedgerows. It does not migrate, so it holds the same patch all year.
What it eats
Mainly seeds — it is a heavy visitor to sunflower feeders — along with fruit, buds and the insects it feeds to its young.
Song & behaviour
A loud, clear whistle, "birdy-birdy-birdy" or "cheer-cheer-cheer", sung by both sexes. Males are strongly territorial and will attack their own reflection in a window.
Nesting
The female builds a cup of twigs and bark in a dense shrub or tangle, and a pair may raise two or three broods across a season.
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