From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a member of the cardinal family of birds in North America. The bird's name comes from the red-robed Roman Catholic Cardinals. Its crested head is also said to resemble a bishop's mitre. Cardinals have been also referred to as redbirds and Virginia nightingales. Cardinals were once popular cage birds for their bright color and rich, varied songs.
[edit] Appearance
Males are bright, deep red with black faces and coral/red beaks. Females are a fawn/light brown color, with mostly grayish-brown tones & slight reddish tint in their wings and tail feathers, also with a bright coral/red beak. Both possess prominent raised crests and strong beaks. Young birds (male & female) are the color of a mother bird until the fall, when they will molt and grow their adult feathers.
[edit] Abundance
Northern Cardinal on the Island of
Kauai, Hawaii
Cardinals are abundant across the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and in Canada in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Their range extends west to the U.S.-Mexico border and south through Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. They were introduced to Bermuda in 1700. They have also been introduced in Hawaii, and Southern California. Their natural habitats are woodlands, suburbs, gardens, swamps and thickets.
[edit] Mating & Song
Cardinals are a territorial song bird. The male sings in a loud, clear whistle from a tree top or other high location to defend his territory. He will chase off other males entering his territory. The pair sometimes sing together before nesting and the male may feed his mate. The female builds a cup nest in a well-concealed spot in dense shrub or a low tree. Both feed the young. Young fledged cardinals resemble adult females in coloring. The male will grow in bright red feathers as he matures and is eventually chased away by his sire.
Female Northern Cardinal in Massachusetts
These birds are permanent residents throughout their range, although they may relocate to avoid extreme weather or if food is scarce.
The Pyrrhuloxia is closely related to the Northern Cardinal.
Cardinals learn their songs, and as a result the songs vary regionally. Cardinals are able to easily distinguish the gender of a singing cardinal by its song alone. Interestingly, however, male cardinals can learn songs from female cardinals, and vice versa, suggesting that differences in song between the sexes may be due to hormonal differences and not learning.
Cardinals have a distinctive alarm call, a short metallic 'chip' sound. In some cases they will also utter a series of chipping notes. It is often easy to locate Cardinals by their alarm call, since they will make it readily when humans walk nearby.
[edit] Symbols & Mascots
In the US, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. Nationwide, this species receives special legal protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which also banned their sale as cage birds. In America, the bird is often associated with the Christmas season, appearing on many cards and decorations, due to it being one of the few brightly colored birds seen in the winter months. Against a white snowy background, the beauty of the red male Cardinal stands out almost regally.
The St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball have a mascot, Fredbird, who is an anthropomorphized Northern Cardinal. The major-league team directly lends its name to three of its minor league affiliates—the Springfield Cardinals, Palm Beach Cardinals, and Johnson City Cardinals. A fourth affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, takes its name from a decades-old alternate nickname for the major-league team. The major-league team had yet another "Cardinals" affiliate, the New Jersey Cardinals, but this team changed its nickname when it moved to State College, Pennsylvania after the 2005 season.
The bird is also the namesake of the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL.
Several colleges, mostly in the Midwest, have sports teams named for the cardinal:
- The University of Louisville
- The State University of New York at Plattsburgh refers to all their sports teams as Cardinals, the school mascot is a giant cardinal named Burghy.
- Ball State University ("Charlie Cardinal" is the name of their mascot)
- Illinois State University (nickname is "Redbirds"; mascot is a cardinal)
- The Iowa State University Cyclones also use a cardinal as their mascot—a reference to their cardinal-red uniforms. Their mascot is named "Cy", a reference to cyclone.
- The Catholic University of America also uses a cardinal as its mascot; here, a reference to the Cardinals of the Catholic Church. See Cardinal (Catholicism)
- Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
Stanford University's nickname, the (singular) Cardinal, is a reference to the color, not the bird.
Many of the cartoon representations of the bird incorrectly depict it with a yellow beak. While the closely related Pyrrhuloxia does indeed have a yellow beak, the beaks of both male and female cardinals are red.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Cardinalis cardinalis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
[edit] External links
