Red Cardinal

[desertlady]

After 4 days of freezing weather in Southern Arizona this Red Cardinal shows up in my garden

 

[Nyboy]

I have a pair that nest somewhere in my yard. Winter is when I see then the most. They are my favorite birds. I don't know if its the same pair but they been here for years. How long do wild birds live?

 

[digitS']

I am sorry to say,

they won't show up in my garden despite freezing or warm weather. We seem to be well outside their range.

I really like the story of the House Finch, DesertLady. It was apparently a bird of the Southwest that was taken East by people who thought it should be a cage bird. Breaking free in east coast cities it began migrating west again! I guess it did kind of like the company of people.

We have House Finches here but they can be bullied by the English Sparrows which share the same habitat. I like to think that the American native, the Song Sparrow, shows up and put the English Sparrows in their place. It isn't really true - just that the English Sparrow stays out of the way of, at least, the male Song Sparrow.

A silly side note (so to speak), the North Idaho College "Cardinals" are a sports team that seems to be about 1,000 mile transplanted .

Steve

I really like Cornell's All About Birds (link) "The oldest recorded Northern Cardinal was 15 years 9 months old." (Probably not a wild bird.)

 

[Carol Dee]

Pretty birds. We have them year round but they are most noteable in winter. That red sure stands out in the snow. It has been very cold. My feeders are busy with Junco, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, grackles/starlings, sparrows, sap suckers, downeys, flickers, purple and house finch and gold finch. I feed mostly black oil seed, peanuts and suet cakes.

 

[lesa]

One of my favorites at the feeder! Once I saw one taking a bath in the bird bath. It was quite a sight! We have nesting pairs in the woods, and it always fun to see the babes come to learn about the feeder from Mom and Dad. You can recognize the young ones- because it looks like their "hair" is messy!

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

We see them here too, but more of them in the spring as they seem to nest in the trees around the farm. They are vocal little critters! I love it when they sit in the tree outside the kitchen window and sing to their mates.

 

[thistlebloom]

Lucky you Desertlady! That's a wonderful picture.

 

[desertlady]

Thank you !, he wont be still! he was very hard for me to take his picture!