For the last couple of years, I have kept a list of birds and other animals that appear on the Christmas cards that people are kind enough to send me.
There have been Caribbean flamingos, two species of penguins, a scarlet macaw, even a long-tailed ground-roller from Madagascar. But by far the most common species has been the northern cardinal.
The northern cardinal (there is no southern cardinal) is so familiar as not to need a description. The male is a robin-sized bird with a crest; bright red, with black face mask and throat and orange bill. The female is similar, but gray-brown with red highlights on the crest, wings and tail. Young birds resemble females.
Cardinals live in the Mid-South year-round. In winter, they form flocks of both sexes.
Pair formation begins in late February or early March, with males courting females. The males' song is as cheery as their bright plumage; "What cheer! What cheer! What cheer!" or "Birdy, birdy, birdy." Unusually for songbirds, the female also sings. Her song is a "counter" of the male's.
He sings one phrase, then she repeats it and so on. Both sexes use songs to defend their territory from other cardinals.
It is at this time that male cardinals become very aggressive toward other males. They will attack any that they perceive as interlopers in their territory. I get lots of calls then about male cardinals attacking their reflection in window glass.
When the mating season is over the attacks will stop. Until then, simply soap the outside of the glass. After the season, just hose off the soap.
The male also engages in courtship feeding; bringing food to his mate and placing it gently in her beak.
Once the pair bond is established, a nest site is selected, usually in a bushy thicket or vine tangle. Construction is by the female. She builds it in four layers of increasingly finer, softer material.
Two to four, usually three, whitish, lightly speckled eggs are laid. Only the female incubates. Hatching begins in 11-13 days.
The female also broods the young for about 10 days. After hatching they remain close to the nest for about three weeks.
Cardinals are prolific breeders, often nesting at least four and sometimes as many as eight times per season.
Cardinals live in forests but prefer their edges, fence rows, urban parks and gardens, especially where people put out food for them.
Their favorites are safflower, black oil and striped sunflower seed.
Two hundred years ago, the familiar Christmas card vignette of cardinals in a snowy landscape or on a snow-laden hemlock bough would have been a rare occurrence. Originally a species of the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico, the northern cardinal began advancing its range north, northeast and west in the mid-1800s.
Today it is common from New England across Ontario and the Great Lakes states, as far west as Kansas, central Texas and Arizona. A warmer climate, suburbanization and especially human propensity to provide supplemental food for them have all been cited as reasons for their expansion.
The northern cardinal's popularity is attested by its having been chosen the state bird of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, the most of any species.
Bird-watching visitors from Europe are often astounded that such a conspicuous bird is so common in America. The northern cardinal has benefited from man's largesse, while we benefit from its beauty and message of cheer, maybe most in the holiday season.
Van Harris is past president of the Memphis chapter, Tennessee Ornithological Society; a member of the Mississippi Ornithology Society and the Mississippi chapter of the Audubon Society. Send questions to shelbyforester1223@ earthlink.net.
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