![]() Young birds, both male and female, show coloring similar to the adult female until the fall, when they molt and grow adult feathers. Both sexes possess prominent raised crests and bright coral-colored beaks. The face mask of the female is gray to black and is less defined than that of the male. The female is fawn-colored, with mostly grayish-brown tones and a slight reddish tint on the wings, crest, and tail feathers. The color becomes duller and darker on the back and wings. The adult male is a brilliant crimson red color with a black face mask over the eyes, extending to the upper chest. The male averages slightly larger than the female. The northern cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21–23.5 cm (8.3–9.3 in) and a wingspan of 25–31 cm (9.8–12.2 in). In Massachusetts, the species is most abundant in the east, especially in areas where dense cover is interspersed with open areas, such as woodland edges, brushy fields, wooded wetlands, parks, and suburban areas. Audubon data shows that the population has grown rapidly in Massachusetts since 1960. In 1929, Forbush described the species as rare, and by 1955 Griscom reported the bird to be "pushing northward" when recorded annually at feeding stations. ![]() Its natural habitat is in woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands. It has also been introduced in Hawaii, southern California and southern Arizona. ![]() The species was introduced to Bermuda in 1700. An allopatric population is found on the Pacific slope of Mexico from Jalisco to Oaxaca (this population is not shown on the range map). ![]() Its range also extends south through Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. Northern cardinals are numerous across the eastern United States from the southern half of Maine to Minnesota to the Texas-Mexico border and in Canada in the southern portions of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all the way east to Cape Breton Island. The term "northern" in the common name refers to its range, as it is the northernmost cardinal species known. The cardinal is named after cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, who wear distinctive red robes and caps. In 1983, the scientific name was changed again to Cardinalis cardinalis and the common name was changed to "northern cardinal", to avoid confusion with the several other species also termed cardinals. In 1918, the scientific name was sometimes replaced with Richmondena cardinalis. In 1838, it was recategorized as Cardinalis virginianus. It was originally categorized as Loxia cardinalis, a genus which now contains only crossbills. The northern cardinal was described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It was once prized as a pet, but its sale was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year. During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. The northern cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit. The species expresses sexual dimorphism: Females are a reddish olive color, and have a gray mask around the beak, while males are a vibrant red color, and have a black mask on the face, as well as a larger crest. The northern cardinal is a mid-sized perching songbird with a body length of 21–23 cm (8.3–9.1 in) and a crest on the top of the head. ![]() Its habitat includes woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands. It is also an introduced species in a few locations such as Bermuda and Hawaii. It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, New Mexico, southern Arizona, southern California, and south through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. The northern cardinal ( Cardinalis cardinalis), known colloquially as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal, is a bird in the genus Cardinalis. ![]()
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