![]() They display to each other during courtship, performing a variety of twisting, swaying, and chest-puffing movements. Male and female cardinals work together to select and defend the territories where they'll nest and raise their young. Northern Cardinals engaged in courtship feeding. This bird has also been introduced to Hawai`i and Bermuda. In recent decades, its range has crept northward, through New England and into southeastern Canada. The Northern Cardinal is one of North America's most abundant bird species and is found year-round throughout the eastern and central U.S., in the desert Southwest, across much of Mexico, and even in northern Guatemala and Belize. While birds molting out of juvenile plumage and splotched with red can be identified as males, birds with dark bills and “female-like” plumage are not distinguishable as male or female.ĭepending on where you live, it is not rare to see a female cardinal. Both look like duller versions of adult females, with a gray or black bill, a shorter crest, and lack of the adult female's red-orange highlights. Just after fledging, juvenile male and female cardinals look alike. ![]() (Northern Cardinals get their name from this color, which reminded early European settlers of a Catholic cardinal's red robes.) Females are also slightly smaller than males on average, although the difference is subtle. You can easily distinguish adult males and females by color: In contrast to the female's muted plumage, males are bright red birds. Photo by Bonnie Taylor Barry, Shutterstock. ![]()
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