![]() ![]() They also eat insects and, in fact, rely almost exclusively on insects as food for their rapidly growing young.Ĭardinals are very common visitors to backyard bird feeders and especially consume large quantities of sunflower seeds. The Northern Cardinal eats a wide variety of seeds, fruits and even the buds of some trees. Further, the ongoing fragmentation of natural forest habitats by human activity and the proliferation of suburban shrub and conifer plantings have created increasingly abundant “edge” ecosystems which are greatly favored by this species. Some researchers, though, feel that the increasingly popular hobby of providing birds with seed in feeders may have allowed this species to thrive in regions previously too marginal or too harsh for their survival. The expanding distribution of the Northern Cardinal has been described as another ecological consequence of global warming. I remember seeing small clusters of them out there mixed into large flocks of Cedar Waxwings. I remember my Uncle Harold telling me that he really liked “those red birds” visiting his farm in northwestern Iowa. ![]() The western boundary of their range is roughly along a line from the Dakotas to western Texas, although there are cardinal populations in New Mexico, southern Arizona, and California. ![]() Historically, cardinals were most numerous in the southern portions of their geographic range, but they have been steadily increasing in numbers in the north and are even expanding their distribution northward into northern New England and southern Canada. The Northern Cardinal is found throughout the eastern United States and on south into Mexico and Central America. They are very abundant in the edges of woods and thickets, in open fields, in suburban yards and gardens, and in a wide variety of urban green spaces. The bright red body feathers and distinctive black mask of the male and the more subdued but equally elegant olive brown and red-tinted feathers of the females stand out clearly in their wide range of preferred habitats. The Northern Cardinal is one of the most recognizable birds in North America. ![]()
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