Northern Cardinal
Description: Male: brilliant red with a black mask and large red-orange bill. Female: olive with a reddish wash on the wings and tails and similar billto the male. These birds are a popular favorite and illicit the painting on a Christmas card.
Nest: Cup of weed stems, grasses, grapevine bark and some leaves. Lining of finer grasses and inner bark of grapevines. Usually placed in a shrub, vine tangle, ornamental conifer, or small tree, rarely higher than 12 feet.
Eggs: 3-4 sometimes 5, eggs are buff with heavy marking of brown and gray.
Diet: Seeds and some fruit, supplemented with insects when they are available. The large bill is used to crack even the largest seeds. Cardinals readily visit feeders and prefer sunflower seeds over others.
Habitat: Hedgerows, meadow edges, open woodlands and urban areas. They do not migrate.
Notes: Cardinals are very territorial and sometimes attack their own reflections in mirrors or windows. Males will feed females seed to reinforce their bonds and as part of his courtship to the female.