Red Cardinal - a small bird with bright plumage and a wonderful voice

In some US states, a small but very beautiful bird is recognized as a symbol. It is also very representative - the bird is a cardinal. This is a very loud and important name for such a small creation of nature. What did this ptaha deserve such respect for? Beautiful singing or bright, cheerful coloring? Who hunts the red cardinal and what does he eat? These and other questions can be answered in this article.

How the Cardinals Look

The Northern Cardinal is a small bird living in Canada, the USA and Mexico. Its other name is the red cardinal or the virgin cardinal. For the fact that, in addition to the beautiful appearance, this little girl also has a gorgeous voice, she is also often called a virgin nightingale.

The most famous distinguishing feature of this bird is its bright red plumage. The most beautiful are the male individuals. Their feathers are bright crimson, and around the beak and eyes they are black. It seems that he wears a mysterious black mask, giving the cardinal a special mystery. Their feet are also reddish-brown.

Samples are much less bright, mostly they have a grayish-brown color of feathers. Red patches are present only on the wings. But from this they do not become less beautiful.

Dimensions of the red cardinal rarely exceed 23-25 cm, and the wingspan can reach 30 cm. They also weigh a little: a large adult male barely reaches 50 grams.

Where there is such beauty

The red cardinal is a bird with bright plumage and a beautiful voice. The natural range of its habitat is the territory of many eastern states of America, as well as cardinals can be found in Mexico, Canada and Guatemala.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Virgin Cardinals were artificially brought to Bermuda. There they liked the nature of the country, so they are happy to live there even today.

Artificial ways of the Virgin Cardinal began to breed also in California and Hawaii. The experiment was successful, the birds well acclimatized and took root.

The first legend about the cardinal

The Indians of North America have their own theories, or rather, beautiful legends, telling how the red cardinal got his plumage.

The first of them is this. Once the wolf wanted to hunt a cunning raccoon. Saving his hide, the raccoon hid in a bush by the stream and hid. Feeling thirsty, the wolf went to the water and saw in the waves a reflection of his future prey. Not thinking that he sees only the reflection of the raccoon in the water, the wolf jumped on him and almost drowned.

With great difficulty, the predator emerged from the water to the shore and fell asleep with fatigue. While he was sleeping, the sly raccoon crept up to him and, in revenge, he clayed his eyes. When the wolf woke up, he could not open his eyes and thought he was blind. Out of despair, he sobbed all over the forest, but no one wanted to help him.

A wolf's weeping was heard by a small bird, she flew to the rescue and removed the clay from the eyes of the predator. Gray wanted to thank his savior. He led her to the red rocks and painted the plumage of the bird with the sand there. Since then, the cardinal has such beautiful crimson feathers.

Legend number 2

There is another legend, according to which the red cardinal is the daughter of the Sun. One day, the Sun insulted people for the fact that when they look at it they always frown. From offense, it began to fry so much that many people died.

The sorcerer intervened in the situation. He said that in order for everything to go well, the Sun needs to be killed. For this purpose he turned the two men into snakes and sent them to the luminary. But it turned out that the sun itself did not suffer from the snake venom, but his beloved daughter. Then the star was offended and forever gone from the sky.

The heat was asleep, but full darkness came, people were again unhappy and went to the sorcerer. He said that in order for Sunny to forgive them, you need to return his beloved daughter from the world of the dead. The sorcerer gave people a special box to carry it, and ordered never to open the lid on the road. People kidnapped the Sun's daughter from the dead, put them in a box and carried them back, but on the way she began to complain and cry, which suffocates. Then the porters opened the lid for a second to let in a little air, and then they slammed it, but it did not help.

When they came to the light, it turned out that the box was empty. Then people remembered that at the time when they opened the lid a small beautiful bird fluttered around them. It was into her that the girl turned.

Behavior of birds in nature

Most often the red cardinal lodges where people live nearby - in gardens and parks. It can also live in forest areas, in swamps and in thickets of shrubs.

The main natural enemies of these beautiful birds are larger predatory birds: hawks, owls, shrouds. Also, cardinals are harmed by squirrels, chipmunks and snakes - they spoil and destroy eggs and chicks left unattended.

Nutrition and reproduction

The red cardinal is quite unpretentious in eating. The food is served to him by berries, various seeds and crops. With pleasure, he can eat and cicada, a grasshopper, various bugs and even snails. If the feeder is placed near the red cardinal's habitat, he will not become picky and will gratefully thank any proposed delicacy.

The red cardinal is a monogamous bird, he chooses a companion for living together once and does not change his preferences anymore. Female Virginia Cardinal herself builds a nest for future offspring. Usually she lays 2-4 eggs in one clutch and incubates the children for about 2 weeks. Caring "daddy" feeds his chosen one and even sometimes replaces it in the process of incubation. But when the chicks are born, the process of upbringing goes "into the paw and beak" of the father.