The Northern Cardinal may be the most recognizable backyard bird in the Susquehanna Valley.  Males are often bright red.  Females are a warm brown color with red highlights on the wings, tail, and head.  Both sexes have a black mask pattern on the face with a thick orange bill.  Cardinals also stand out as one of our few species of crested birds, along with Blue Jays and Tufted Titmice.

Northern Cardinals have adapted to thrive alongside humans.  They are regular visitors to bird feeders, where their favorite foods are sunflower and safflower seeds.  As bird feeding has become more popular, and as our winters have become milder, Northern Cardinals have been exanding their range northward.  In the early 1900s, cardinals were common in Pennsylvania but were only found nesting in two of New York’s 62 counties, and they were extremely rare in New England.  Today, Northern Cardinals are common throughout New York and New England, and they’ve moved into southern parts of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.

With a name like Northern Cardinal, you may wonder if there is a Southern Cardinal.  There’s no bird with that name, but there are two species of cardinals you can find farther south.  The Pyrrhuloxia, a gray cardinal with a bent-looking yellow bill, lives in northern Mexico and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  The Vermilion Cardinal, a vibrantly red bird with a dramatically tall crest, is found in a small area of northern South America in Venezuela and Colombia.