Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Northern Cardinal overview

The northern cardinal is a crested songbird of eastern and central North America, instantly recognized by the male's brilliant red plumage and black face mask. Females are warm buff-brown with red tinges on the crest, wings and tail, and both sexes have a thick orange-red bill built for cracking seeds. Cardinals do not migrate and do not molt into dull winter plumage, so they stand out against snow and are a fixture at backyard feeders. Unusually among North American songbirds, the female sings as well as the male. It is the state bird of seven US states, more than any other species.

How Long Do Northern Cardinals Live?

Northern cardinals live about 3 years on average in the wild, and many survivors reach 3–5 years. The oldest banded wild cardinal was a female at least 15 years and 9 months old. Hawks, owls, cats and snakes take adults, and many nests are lost to predators.

How Much Does a Northern Cardinal Weigh?

An adult northern cardinal typically weighs 42–48 g (1.5–1.7 oz), a little less than two AA batteries. The full recorded range is roughly 34–65 g. Males are slightly larger than females on average.

How Long Is a Northern Cardinal?

Northern cardinals are 21–23 cm (8.3–9.1 in) long with a wingspan of 25–31 cm (9.8–12.2 in). That makes them a mid-sized songbird, slightly smaller than an American robin, with a long tail and a tall pointed crest.

How Long Do Northern Cardinals Eggs Take to Hatch?

Northern cardinal eggs hatch after 11–13 days of incubation. The female builds a cup nest low in a dense shrub or vine tangle, lays two to five speckled eggs and incubates them while the male brings her food. Chicks leave the nest after 7–13 days, and pairs raise two or more broods a year.

What Do Northern Cardinals Eat?

Northern cardinals eat mainly seeds, grain and fruit, which make up roughly 90 percent of the adult diet, along with insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars. Nestlings are fed almost entirely on insects. At feeders they strongly prefer black-oil sunflower and safflower seeds.

Diet type: omnivore. Mostly seeds, grain, buds and fruit such as dogwood, wild grape, sumac and mulberry, plus beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars and other insects, which are fed almost exclusively to nestlings. Sunflower and safflower seeds are feeder favorites.

Where Do Northern Cardinals Live?

Northern cardinals live in dense shrubby places: woodland edges, thickets, hedgerows, overgrown fields, swamps, desert washes, parks and backyards. They range from southeastern Canada through the eastern and central United States to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, and they stay on or near their territories all year.

Are Northern Cardinals Endangered?

The northern cardinal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with a large, stable-to-growing population. It has expanded its range northward over the past century, helped by suburban plantings, bird feeders and milder winters. It is protected under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and cannot legally be kept as a cage bird.

Least Concern

Northern Cardinal fun facts

• The northern cardinal is the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
• Female cardinals sing, often from the nest, which may tell the male when to bring food. In most North American songbirds only the male sings.
• The red color comes from carotenoid pigments in the diet. Rare yellow cardinals have a mutation that stops them from converting yellow pigments to red.
• Cardinals sometimes go bald in late summer, losing all their head feathers at once during molt and showing dark gray skin for a week or two.
• The bird is named for the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

Northern Cardinal FAQ

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