Northern Cardinal
Species: Cardinals
Latin name: Cardinalis cardinalis
English name: Northern Cardinal or Common Cardinal
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalinae
Description:
First of all, I can’t recommend Rob’s book on breeding cardinals highly enough (see the ‘Publications’ section).
Habitat: Throughout the north-west, south, south-east, south-west and central United States, south-eastern Canada and eastern Mexico, in parks and gardens. It can be compared to our European Blackbird (Turdus merula), as it nests in bushes, hedgerows and areas with dense vegetation.
The male (see photo) is predominantly a deep red. Its face is black, and the top of its head is crowned with a red crest. The flight feathers and tail feathers are light brown with a red lipochrome. The small wing coverts are red.
The female is much duller in colour, with a paler black mask, a reddish crest, and red patches in the flight feathers and tail feathers.
Both sexes have a red beak; the male’s is a deep red, whilst the female’s is orange-red.
Juveniles resemble the female’s plumage but lack any red.
The Virginia Cardinal is a superb bird, which many breeders would love to have in their aviaries.
These birds should be kept in small aviaries or in a large communal aviary. Although naturally calm, the parents can become aggressive during the breeding season.
Breeding them is far from straightforward and requires a great deal of attention from the breeder. You will also need to set aside a budget for insects once the chicks hatch, as the parents feed almost exclusively on animal protein whilst rearing their young. On this page, Romain shares his experience with us, having photographed his chicks every two days from the moment they hatched. There is no doubt that an article about his success will be published on our website in the future.
Galerie
