There are few songbirds that so quickly gain a person's attention than that of a cardinal pouring out its powerful, but pleasant whistling calls. Actually, the male cardinal will sing at almost any time of the year, but seems to reserve his best performance for spring. Even the female has been know to sing "cheer, cheer cheer." When English settlers arrived on the shores of Jamestown, they gave it the names "Virginia nightingale" and "carnation bird." Another common name is "redbird," and so popular did the bird become, that many states, including Virginia, ultimately named it their state bird. It also became the namesake of numerous sports teams.

     The cardinal is abundant in the South to the point of being a common every-day sight. A northerner moving to the South will find the cardinal as common as a robin or blue jay in the north. The cardinal ranges over all the eastern United States to the edge of the Great Plains in eastern Colorado; as far north as southern Ontario and the Great Lakes Region east. One race of cardinal can be found in Arizona and California. The bright red male has darker or duller back coloring with a rich, black face, and chin patch. The female varies in color from yellow-brown to grayish-olive, with reddish wings and tail and a dark face patch. Both sexes are crested with short, rounded wings, long tail, and thick, conical-shaped bills that are red or red-orange in color.

     While it is non-migratory, cardinals may wander extensively in winter, probably nature's way of dispersing the young, but possibly because of severe weather or food shortages. Anyone who stocks a feeder consistently in winter may be surprised to find a yard full of cardinals. It's not unusual to have seven or more bright red males along with two or three females feeding daily in the yard. In some cases, the cardinal flock may be the young-of-the- year of two or three pairs still traveling with their parents, or birds that have wandered in from less desirable areas. They come to feeders regularly with a special liking for black oil seed sunflower seeds. Although they'll feed on the larger, grays stripe variety. Cardinals seem to come to the feeder early in the morning or just before dark on a consistent basis. Earlier in the year they feast on melon or squash seeds, plus numerous other wild and cultivated seeds.

     As spring approaches, the resident or dominant male becomes edgy with all the added competition and begins driving off the younger males, so he is free to court his lady again. As the weather warms he will bring her small gifts of sunflower seeds and feed her. Look for this to happen about the last week in January or first week of February. Cardinals are at home in a variety of habitats, including dense thickets and tangles near open areas, field edges, woodland margins, along streams, in open swamps, and in park thickets. By planting fruit-bearing and dense shrubs, you can create a refuge in your own yard and attract cardinals. In early April, the female will begin building a nest, usually located in second-growth thickets of shrubs, like forsythias, pyracantha, holly, or grapes, or small trees such as pines, post oaks, and cedars. One year a female cardinal built a nest and raised three young in one of my wife's rose bushes. The unusual thing about it was the fact that it was in plain sight, and we were able to watch the whole affair from our sunroom! Nests are usually built four to nine feet off the ground. They are loosely constructed affairs of small twigs, strips of bark, weed stems, grasses, lined with fine rootlets and hairs.

     Two to four eggs are laid with a base color of bluish or greenish-white, mottled with chestnut or purple. While the female incubates, the male brings her food and once the first brood is hatched and growing, he may complete the feeding chores while she begins the second nest. Once raised to maturity, the cardinal brood may stay together or join others as a loosely associated flock. In summer and fall they will feed on insects, weed seeds, wild berries and other fruits. With the coming of winter you won't hear the cardinal's song, just the the harsh "chek-chek" call. Put up a feeder beginning about Thanksgiving Day, keep it stocked with sunflower seeds, and you'll have cardinals all year round.