Cardinal



= = =Riley Cardinal writing=

=Wikispaces info= = Eggs = ||  || = Nest = ||  || = Habitat = ||  ||
 * = =Size= || 8 in. ||
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 * =Location= ||  ||


 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/DSCF1077.JPG/220px-DSCF1077.JPG width="188" height="142"]] || Males sometimes bring nest material to the female, who does most of the building. She crushes twigs with her beak until they are pliable, 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 do not usually use their nests more than once. The female builds a cup [|nest] in a well-concealed spot in dense shrub or a low tree one to three meters (three to ten ft) off the ground. The nest is made of thin twigs, bark strips, and grasses, lined with grasses or other plant fibers.[|[][|18][|]]

Eggs are laid one to six days following the completion of the nest. The [|eggs] are white, with a tint of green, blue or brown, and are marked with lavender, gray, or brown blotches which are thicker around the larger end.[|[][|10][|]] The shell is smooth and slightly glossy.[|[][|18][|]] Three or four eggs are laid in each clutch. Eggs measure approximately 1 x .75 inches in size.[|[][|10][|]] The female generally [|incubates] the eggs, though, rarely, the male will incubate for brief periods of time. Incubation takes 12 to 13 days. ||



Male Cardinal ||  || Female Cardinal || ||
 * [[image:http://images.northrup.org/picture/xl/northern-cardinal/red-cardinal-perched.jpg width="372" height="331" caption="Photo by Tony Northrup http://www.northrup.org/ used with permission"]]
 * [[image:http://images.northrup.org/picture/xl/cardinal/female-cardinal-on-deck%20%281%29.jpg width="400" height="263" caption="Photo by Tony Northrup http://www.northrup.org/"]]

=Cornell Lab of Ornithology - with sound and video=