Cardinal+-+Aaren


 * [[image:http://images.northrup.org/picture/xl/northern-cardinal/male-northern-cardinal-on-thorny-bush.jpg width="296" height="643" caption="Male Northern Cardinal : http://origin.northrup.org:8080/photos/northern-cardinal/?page=2"]] || [[image:card.jpg width="537" height="426"]] ||

** Cardinals often sit with a hunched-over posture and with the tail pointed straight down.. ** ** Male cardinals are brilliant red all over, with a reddish bill and black face immediately around the bill. Females are pale brown overall with warm reddish tinges in the wings, tail, and crest. They have the same black face and red-orange bill. ** **Look for Northern Cardinals in dense shrubby areas such as forest edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows, backyards, marshy thickets, mesquite, re-growing forest, and ornamental landscaping **

[|allaboutbirds.org]
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Male Cardinal **Males sometimes bring nest material to the female, who does most of the building. She crushes twigs with her beak until they’re pliable, and then turns in the nest to bend the twigs around her body and push them into a cup shape with her feet. The cup has four layers: coarse twigs (and sometimes bits of trash) covered in a leafy mat, then lined with grapevine bark and finally grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. The nest typically takes 3 to 9 days to build; the finished product is 2-3 inches tall, 4 inches across, with an inner diameter of about 3 inches. Cardinals usually don’t use their nests more than once.** [|allaboutbirds.org]  ||
 * [[image:http://images.northrup.org/picture/xl/northern-cardinal/red-cardinal-perched.jpg width="379" height="398" caption="Photo by Tony Northrup http://www.northrup.org/ used with permission"]]

Both Sexes
Length 8.3–9.1 in21–23 cm Wingspan 9.8–12.2 in25–31 cm Weight 1.5–1.7 oz 42–48 g || Female Cardinal **Clutch Size** **2–5 eggs** **Number of Broods** **1-2 broods** **Egg Length** **0.9–1.1 in 2.2–2.7 cm** **Egg Width** **0.7–0.8 in 1.7–2 cm** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Incubation Period** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**11–13 days** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Nestling Period** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**7–13 days** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Egg Description** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Grayish white, buffy white, or greenish white speckled with pale gray to brown.** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Condition at Hatching** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Naked except for sparse tufts of grayish down, eyes closed, clumsy.** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">[|allaboutbirds.org] || <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Cardinals, also called "redbirds," do not migrate and** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**have traditionally been more common in warmer** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**climates** **such as the U.S. southeast. However, in recent decades** **they have expanded their common range** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**north** **through the United States and even into Canada.** <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">**animals.nationalgeographic.com** ||
 * [[image:http://images.northrup.org/picture/xl/cardinal/female-cardinal-on-deck%20%281%29.jpg width="338" height="330" caption="Photo by Tony Northrup http://www.northrup.org/"]]

National Geographic
=Cornell Lab of Ornithology - with sound and video=