Northern Cardinal Faves: Popcorn for Female or Chestnut Seeds for Male

Summary: Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are New World birds enjoyed as backyard guests in North America. Diet faves include chestnut seeds and popcorn.

A male feeding a female Northern Cardinal = endearing courtship ritual of New World species which mates for life and shares their lives year-round: Linda Hartong, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), also known as common cardinals or as redbirds, are New World songbirds native to North and Central America.

Their range extends across southern Canada in the eastern provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

In the United States, Northern cardinals claim homelands in 39 of the Lower 48 as well as in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Only the west coast states (California, Oregon, Washington) and the Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) are excluded from the songbird’s native range in the contiguous United States.

Northern cardinals extend their southern range beyond U.S. borders into eastern and northwestern Mexico as well as into the Central American countries of Belize and Guatemala.

In the United States, the Northern Cardinal holds the record as the most popular state bird, with official designation as a state symbol in seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

Even though Northern cardinals have healthy population levels, they are included in the prohibition against capturing, killing or selling of migratory birds (16 U.S. Code § 703) as provided in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA). The pioneer federal law grants full protection to both dead and live birds as well as to their eggs and nests. As of March 2010, the MBTA protects 1,007 migratory avian species.

Northern cardinals may not be kept as pets but it is not illegal to enjoy them as backyard visitors.

Northern cardinals are mid-sized songbirds that mate for life.

Both males and females sport face masks, prominent raised head crests and coral, cone-shaped beaks. The adult male is easily recognizable with brilliant crimson coloring and a black face mask. The adult female contrasts the male’s vibrant colors with a subdued grey-to-black face mask, overall dull tawny-to-grey brown tones, and slightly reddish tinted crest, tail feathers, and wings.

As granivores (Latin: granum, grain” + voro, “to eat”), Northern cardinals prefer seeds. Their primarily herbivorous (Latin: herba, “grass” + voro, “to eat”) diet also includes fruits and grains.

Although adults disfavor insects except during scarce seasons such as winter, they feed their young an almost exclusively insect diet.

Backyard birders attract Northern cardinals to feeders stocked with such faves as cracked corn (Zea mays), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) seeds and sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seeds.

Daily, around 6 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), a Northern cardinal couple likes to graze around the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) tree in the south lawn bordering one of my home's living room windows.

The female favors unpopped popcorn kernels that I toss atop the leftover coffee grounds that fill a previously empty post hole.

The male either perches in sight of his mate in a southern, lower branch overhanging her feeding site or contents himself with last year's bounty of chestnut seeds that carpet the ground under the chestnut's huge overhang area.

The scene epitomizes the paradise gifted by nature through the magic of ordinary moments.

Northern cardinal eggs in nest: marti175, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Male (left) feeding female (right) Northern cardinal in white-flowered Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis): Linda Hartong, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cardinalis_cardinalis_in_Cercis_canadensis.jpg

Northern cardinal eggs in nest: marti175, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Cardinal_Eggs_in_nest.jpg

For further information:

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Division of Public Affairs. "Official Number of Protected Migratory Bird Species Climbs to more than 1,000." U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service > News. March 1, 2010.
Available @ http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?newsId=1A6C3012-D22E-4F75-ABD98CD33992DD42.