Photos by Stan Tekeila ©2004

Northern Cardinals

by Stan Tekiela
© 2003 NatureSmart
December 26, 2003

Christmas may be over but many people still have a red Christmas ornament decorating their backyards. The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is always a treat for any backyard bird watcher.

The Northern Cardinal is great example of a confusing name for a bird. With a name like "Northern" one might assume this bird is most common or at least very common in northern states. In fact, the cardinal reaches its northern most limits in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Ironically, the Northern Cardinal is most common in southern and eastern states. It ranges throughout the East Coast from southern Maine to Florida and west to Arizona. So it should be called the "Southern Cardinal" right? Wrong? The rational behind the name "Northern" refers to the fact that six other birds are named cardinal, but this is the only one that is native to North America. The rest are found in South America. Hence the Northern name.

It was Roger Tory Peterson, the grandfather of bird identification field guides that postulated that cardinals have expanded their ranges northward over the past fifty years because of two things. The first is backyard bird feeding and the second are bridges. Yes, bridges.

While no species of bird rely completely on birdfeeders for their entire diet, the easily available food source gives them just enough of an edge to beat the odds of surviving winter. And it’s seems it’s just enough for the Northern Cardinal to get a foothold on new northern territory.

Secondly, Peterson speculated that since cardinals are not very good long distance flyers, man-made bridges were the key to crossing large bodies of water, such as large wide rivers. A cardinal would have a hard time flying cross a wide river without a taking a few rest breaks. The cardinal expanded from the eastern and southern states with the expansion of people and their bridges. Sounds good to me!!!!

The Northern Cardinal is now a familiar backyard bird that tends to show up at feeders just before sunrise and is often the last bird seen at the feeder each evening. Only during winter can you see more than one pair of cardinals at a time coming to feeding stations. Some lucky people have up to twenty cardinals visiting their feeding stations during winter.

The reason behind this winter congregation of cardinals is hormones. During spring and summer, hormones tell the cardinal to defend their territories against other cardinals. During winter, the hormones are suppressed and the birds are congenial and tend to gather in small groups of both males and females.

Cardinals are named after the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church that wear red robes and hats. The name originates from the Latin word cardinalis, which means "important". Certainly a well named bird after all.