I hope all of you enjoyed your last weekend leading up to Christmas. Today’s Wild Fact is another animal suggested by Jamie, who recommended that we learn about a beautiful bird known as the Northern Cardinal. If you live in the USA, you may be quite familiar with the Northern Cardinal considering they are the state bird for 7 different states. You know you are a pretty impressive bird when that many different places wants to make you their official bird! So lets grab our birding binoculars and find out some more about this magnificent bird, shall we?

A Dazzling Fashion Statement

As alluded to, the Northern Cardinal is a popular bird found in backyards throughout North America. To be more specific, they are found in woodlands, swamps, gardens and scrublands from Southern Canada all the way down into Mexico. These beautiful birds are well known for their stunning red colour and the distinctive crest on their head. Only the males have the brilliant red colouring while the females are a dull reddish brown colour. As with many other animal species, the brighter the colour, the better it is for attracting a female companion.

The Defenders

Not only are these birds beautifully coloured but they are also very proficient singers. In fact, I believe it was a Northern Cardinal that won the second American Idol contest. Obviously, this isn’t true but I am certain this bird is a better singer than most of those contestants. They have a variety of melodies that they use for many different occasions such as mating and defending. What are they defending? Well, the Northern Cardinal happens to be very aggressive in defending their home territory and the males have no issues with attacking other males trying to enter their zone. In fact, this behaviour causes the Northern Cardinal to crash into many windows as they mistake their reflection for an intruding male. I guess this is a good excuse to keep your windows dirty .

Cardinal Population on the Rise as a Result of Human Activity

The population of the Northern Cardinal is actually on the rise. In fact, this bird used to only be found in the warmer regions of North America but have recently started expanding their range to the more northern sections. Scientists believe that the number of winter bird feeders has allowed for the expansion of the Northern Cardinal. It isn’t too often that I get to write about humans actually aiding the expansion or success of an animal species. Perhaps, this is an early Christmas present!

That does it for the first Wild Fact of the week. Enjoy the rest of your day and I will see you again tomorrow for another fun and exciting animal.